Kant and Rights

Theory (De
Guzman, 2017)
 What is Kantian Ethics? Kantian
ethics are a set of universal moral
principles that apply to all human
beings, regardless of context or
situation. Immanuel Kant, a
German philosopher, calls the
principles Categorical
Imperatives, which are defined by
their morality and level of
freedom.
Kantian
Ethics
KANT CATEGORICALLY REJECTS THAT
ETHICAL JUDGMENTS ARE BASED ON
FEELINGS. FOR HIM, FEELINGS EVEN
SERVE AS OBSTRUCTIONS TO OUR
DISCERNMENT OF RIGHT AND WRONG.
HIS ETHICAL THEORY INSTEAD BASES
MORAL JUDGMENTS ON REASON ALONE.
REASON, FOR HIM, IS WHAT DEEMS AN
ACTION ETHICAL OR OTHERWISE
Rights
Theory
IN LAW, IMMANUEL KANT PROPOSED THE
PRINCIPLE OF RIGHTS. HE SAW A DISTINCTIVE
CORRELATION, YET DIFFERENCE, BETWEEN THE
INTENT OF THE LAW AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF
LAW. FOR KANT, GOVERNMENTS WERE
ENTRUSTED WITH THE CAPACITY TO CREATE
LAWS BY THE CITIZENS THEY GOVERNED IN
EXCHANGE FOR PROTECTION. THUS,
GOVERNMENTS HAVE NO RIGHT TO DISRUPT
THAT TRUST BY MAKING LAWS WITH CRUEL
INTENT AGAINST THE FREEDOM THAT CITIZENS
HAD BEEN PROMISED.
 Rights Based Ethics is a broad moral theory in which
Kant's principle of rights theory is included. The
concept of rights based ethics is that "there are some
rights, both positive and negative, that all humans
have based only on the fact that they are human.
These rights can be natural or conventional. That is,
natural rights are those that are moral while
conventional are those created by humans and reflect
society's values".
 

Examples of rights based ethics system:

The right to life
The right to liberty
The right to pursue happiness
The right to freely practice a religion of choice
The right to express ideas or opinions with freedom as an
individual
The right to come together and meet in order to achieve goals
The right to work
The right to marry
The right to bear children
The right to free education
The right to be treated as equal to others
The right to personal privacy
Legal vs.
Moral
Rights
 What is legal is not always moral. And sometimes, what is moral is not necessarily legal in a
particular country. These principles prove, among other things, that being moral and being
legal may be practically related but not the same.

 Legal rights. Legal rights denote all the rights found within existing legal codes. As such,
they enjoy the recognition and protection of the law. Questions as to their existence can be
resolved by just locating the pertinent legal instrument or piece of legislation. Technically, a
legal right does not exist prior to its passing into law, and the limits of its validity are set by
the jurisdiction of the body which passed its legislation.

 Moral rights. Moral rights, in plain contrast, are rights that exist prior to and
independently from their legal counterparts. The existence and validity of a moral
right is not deemed to be dependent upon the actions of jurists and legislators. For
instance, many people argued that the black majority in apartheid South Africa had a
moral right to full political participation in that country's political system, although
there existed no such legal right
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YOU!