Ethical rights

Upon the discussion of ethics, one of the most commonly talked about aspects is the ethical
rights or the moral rights. What does it mean to have a right? So, A right is a justified claim, entitlement,
or assertion of what the holder is due. In order for a person to claim his/her ethical right to have, to get,
or to do something, there must always be a ethical basis or justification for his/her claim but, these
bases or justifications are different in every different categories or types of rights. Rights are considered
the fundamentals to civilizations, as it had been regarded as the established pillars of society and
culture. Ethical rights along with the ethical obligations and responsibilities, constrain us, as a person in
how far we go in seeking to improve an outcome. An example of this is when you find yourself in a
situation where you need to sacrifice a person and take his life to save the other four persons or vice
versa. However, it is morally unacceptable to sacrifice either of the four persons’ life or the one person’s
life because you value the right of life of every individual. But, in another situation if we switch up the
persons with art, for example. Both have value, but art itself does not contain ethical rights. Therefore, it
would be justified to destroy one great painting to save four others--for example, by using the first to
wrap the other four.

Rights need not be exercised. Upon having a right to do something, a person is morally required
to do that thing because of a role assumed or an agreement, we say the person has an ethical obligation
or duty as well as a right to do the thing in question. An ethical duty or obligation is a moral requirement
to follow a certain course of action, that is, to do, or refrain from doing, certain things. When talking
about rights, it is not in entirety a finite concept, rather it endures an infinite ideologies that widens and
widens as we get deeper and deeper. However, in order to simplify such a broad understanding, we
could categorize them in order for us to understand the ethical thoughts behind each one.

Moral Rights - Moral rights are justified by moral standards that most people acknowledge, but
which are not codified in law, and therefore have been interpreted differently by different
people.

Legal Rights - A legal right is an interest accepted and protected by law. Also, any debasement
of any legal right is punishable by law. Legal rights affect every citizen.

Civil Rights – The legal rights of citizens of a country.

On the discussion of moral rights and legal rights. An effort is being made by people in joining
and integrating the moral rights into the force of law by making it a legal right, however, moral rights
must be distinguished from legal rights. There is no contradiction in saying that a person has a legal right
to do something but not a moral right to do it, or in claiming that some laws are unjust.

Human Rights – Sometimes called natural rights are wights where an agreement internationally
and cross-culturally states that all persons contain rights because they are simply of human
being. According to Locke there are three natural rights: Life: everyone is entitled to live; Liberty:
everyone is entitled to do anything they want to so long as it doesn't conflict with the first right;
Estate: everyone is entitled to own all they create or gain through gift or trade so long as it
doesn't conflict with the first two rights.
Inalienable Rights – To say something is an inalienable right, it means that the right cannot be
taken away by others, traded away by the person, or forfeited as a result of the person's actions.
In a weaker sense, it means that the right cannot be taken or traded away, but it could be
forfeited through the person's actions. An example of this is the right to vote. In the U.S. when
you are convicted of a crime the right to vote is removed. although it is seen as wrong for others
to deprive a person of the right to vote and any trading away of the right to vote is seen as
morally invalid

Alienable Rights – Rights that may be removed. An example of this is the right to drive a car.
You have the right of ownership to a property. If that property was illegally obtained then it can
be taken away.

Absolute Rights – Often confused with inalienable rights, absolute rights are rights where one’s
claim can never be outweighed by other moral considerations. An example of this is the right of
not getting tortured. The right not to be tortured is widely regarded as an example of an
absolute right. This means that no circumstances ethically justify torturing person.

Prima facie Rights – Rights whose claims may be outweighed by moral considerations. Most
rights are prima facie rights. For example, the right to travel freely, the right to own a piece of
real estate, the right to drive, the right to be served next (when one has stood in line) are all
rights that can be justly overridden under certain circumstances.

Negative Rights - A negative right is a right not to be subjected to an action of another person or
group; negative rights permit or oblige inaction. To respect another's negative right requires
only that you not interfere with the person's exercise of the right in question, and not that you
provide her with particular opportunities to practice this right. Examples of these negative rights
include a person's rights to free speech and to religious expression.

Positive Rights - A positive right is a right to be subjected to an action or another person or

group; positive rights permit or oblige action. In the case of positive rights, it is not enough to
leave the rights holder alone; something must be done for her. Usually some goods or services
must be supplied.

Economic Rights - It is commonly held that all people have a right to certain basic necessities,
and thus a society that is able to provide them is obliged to do so.

Political Rights - Political rights include physical liberty, or the right to travel freely; freedom of
association; and freedom of speech.

These categories of rights are only guides wherein in order to see the ideologies and
understandings behind ethical rights. One right can be put into more than one of each
categories. However, as these rights sometimes give contrast to each other where one right
cannot also be in the other category. The category that contrast each other are the ff:

1. Alienable and inalienable rights.

2. Human rights and special rights.

3. Negative rights or liberties, and positive rights.

4. Absolute rights and prima facie rights.

To briefly explain, the first contrast deals with whether or by what means (e.g., only by
forfeiture) the right may be removed from the person; the second with whether the right
belongs to all people; the third with whether the claim of the right is to receive something or
just to be left alone; and the fourth with whether it can ever be just (morally acceptable) to
override the claims of that right.