GETHCS1 - Rights and Duties

The lecture introduces the concepts of rights and duties, highlighting their interconnectedness. A right is something one is entitled to, like the right to life or freedom. A duty is a moral obligation, the 'oughtness' of man to do or not do something. The core idea is that one's right necessitates a duty to respect the same rights of others, ensuring equality among individuals.

Rights are defined in three ways: objectively, subjectively, and juridically. Objectively, a right means what ought to be equitable, reasonable, just, or due to others, referring to natural and inherent rights essential for human existence, such as the right to life. Subjectively, rights depend on their creator, often laws within a society (e.g., the Philippine Constitution's Bill of Rights) which can vary between communities (e.g., North Korea's limited freedoms). Juridically, rights are attached to persons and are correlative to duties; for every right, there is a corresponding duty.

The elements of a right include the 'subject,' which is the person holding the right (the agent), and the 'object,' which is the specific right itself (e.g., right to liberty, right to property). The lecture also discusses various kinds of rights based on actions, such as the right to commit or omit (e.g., right to marry), the right to keep or hold (e.g., right of ownership), and the right to demand something from others (e.g., justice in case of injury).

The primary source of rights is the law. Laws define and implement rights, and also outline penalties for those who fail to practice their duties. The lecture then delves into different kinds of rights: natural rights (inherent, acquired by birth, essential for survival, like the right to life, freedom, education), acquired rights (gained through fulfilling conditions, like the right to vote or a driver's license), public rights (possessed by perfect societies like the church or state), and private rights (possessed by individuals or imperfect societies).

Rights are further categorized into positive rights (do not command a person to do something, allowing choice, e.g., right to marry), negative rights (command a person not to do something, e.g., not to kill or steal), alienable rights (can be renounced or transferred, e.g., property ownership), inalienable rights (cannot be renounced or transferred, indispensable for basic obligation, e.g., right to life), perfect rights (enforced by law, having legal basis, e.g., right of parents to support children), and imperfect rights (not enforced by law, e.g., right to express gratitude).

Rights have properties: limitation (rights are limited by law to prevent violation of others' rights, e.g., freedom of speech has limits against defamation), collision (when two rights conflict, the greater right—one that benefits more people—should prevail, e.g., public interest vs. individual privacy), and inviolability (the right to use physical force in defense of one's own important rights, such as life or dignity, under certain conditions: for protection, as a last resort, against aggressors, and for important rights).

Duties are moral obligations to respect the rights of others. Different kinds of duties include: natural duty (imposed by natural law, e.g., to preserve one's life), positive duty (comes from positive law created by government, e.g., paying taxes), affirmative duty (moral obligation to do an act, e.g., to do good and avoid evil), negative duty (moral obligation to avoid or omit something, e.g., not to kill or steal), perfect duty (obliges one under strict justice and is supported by law, e.g., employer's duty to pay employees), and imperfect duty (does not oblige from the standpoint of justice, e.g., duty to give donation).