Open Democracy
Yes, economic and social rights really are human rights
Stanley Ibe
Friday, August 8, 2014
Stanley Ibe — Yes, economic and social rights really are human rights
Open Democracy
Yes, economic and social rights really are human rights
Stanley Ibe
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2 comments:
history reveals that the concept of right is a social construct not found universally in nature but as a product of human development.
Which is no argument at all. Every concept in any science or discipline is a social construct, a product of human development, just the same way as the concept of right.
Pizano's or Neier's idea that economic or social rights are less rights than civil or political because they might not be enforced somewhere by a court is so much worse it hardly deserves a reply. And it of course ignores how many social and economic rights - e.g. the right to work, to a JG - fit perfectly well into Neier's framework of rights as limitations on state power.
The history of thinking about rights in the West begins in ancient Greece. The dominant theory after the adoption of Christianity was the concept of divine right, reflected in the Declaration, "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
This was felt by some to be insufficient, so the doctrine of "natural rights" based on reason came to be elaborated along with "natural law."
Modern scientific thinking pretty much undercut both views, or at least reduced their influence. "Rights" now tend to be explained developmentally and institutionally, especially wrt law.
There is no doubt that right guaranteed by law have an absolute and objective basis in terms of the law and its judicial interpretation. The difficulties arise from the fact that this differs among jurisdictions, suggesting that rights are socially relative.
It also leaves up in the air the ground of rights through their development wrt custom into positive law. What is the process through which new rights come to be recognized? Is this a result of invention or discovery? These are the questions debated in philosophy of right, philosophy of law, ethics, and social and political philosophy.
We are still involved in this debate. This post is part of it. There are different views. What are the criteria for deciding among the views? What justifies those criteria?
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