Ethics

1
Rights

Module 15 Rights

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. To give a definition of Rights as well as the types of rights
2. To differentiate rights from privilege
3. To discern moral rights from legal rights

What are Rights?

Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement. Rights are part of
modern civilizations, and are regarded as established pillars of society and culture. Conflicts in
history such as war, for example, began and end with rights. Democracy protected the rights of
individuals, property and privileges that is a thing men can never do without. Human
rights are moral principles that describe standards of human behavior protected by law. They are
considered as inalienable and fundamental, which means they can be given and taken away once
abused and is a necessity for human existence. Human rights are inherent among human beings
because that is part of their existence regardless of their race, color or creed. It must be noted that
human rights may be protected by law but if abused, as mentioned will be taken away but with
due process. The “aggrieved” party may lose his fundamental rights backed up by a court litigation
and at the same time mete punishment for his mistake.
Types of Human Rights:
1. Civil and Political Rights - “civil-political” rights center on political liberties dealing with
politics. They are strongly individualistic and negatively constructed to protect the
individual from the state. These rights got their origin from Thomas Paine’s “Rights of
Man” that is part of the democratic process. Civil rights include the security of peoples'
well-being, the protection from discrimination, and the exercise of freedoms of speech,
freedom, press and assembly. By Political Rights we mean natural justice such as the
right of the accused to fair trial, redress of grievances and legal remedies.
2. Socio-Economic and Cultural Rights – are human rights guarantee equal conditions and
treatment of necessities provided by the State. These include the human right
employment, the right to a high quality of life, including the basic needs of food,
clothing, and shelter and the right to social security, healthy environment, and
education. These rights are part of the body of human rights that resulted after World
War II.
3. Collective-Developmental Rights – the right of peoples and groups to development in
relation to states’ rights to public assembly. This is for the protection of associations
and groups with the help of the state in its well-being.

Course Module
Rights versus Privileges
A privilege is an entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a
restricted group on a conditional basis. On the other hand a right is an inherent, irrevocable
entitlement held by all citizens or all human beings from the moment of birth. What is the
difference, privilege refers to special powers or immunities held as a consequence of political
power, social status, or wealth. Any local citizen has the right to elect a public official but having a
driver’s license is a privilege for it cannot be demanded. Such government ID needed exams to
pass and laws to follow. Privileges elevate a person, that granted them status and power that not
everybody can claim. Both of them however can be taken away once abused.
Moral Right versus Legal Right
As explained in the past modules not everything moral as legal and vice versa but we will
give an in-depth analysis of that in this module. Moral rights are rights accorded under some
system of ethics. Moral rights adhere to the idea that men are to be respected because they are
rational people. This includes the right to fair treatment and right to privacy. That is, if Pedro has
the right to these things Juan also being a human being must also be given the same privileges.
Legal rights are people’s rights under some legal system, granted by the government or any
duly-constituted authority. Everyone has the right to know the veracity of a news item that the
State may upheld the right to information but cannot force the people to believe in it.

References and Supplementary Materials

Online Supplementary Reading Materials
1. How to tell the difference between the right and a privilege?;
https://voicesofliberty.com/2015/04/22/how-to-tell-the-difference-between-a-
right-and-a-privilege/; April 22, 2015
2. What is difference between moral rights and legal rights?;
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-moral-rights-and-legal-
rights; January 9, 2017
3. Three Generations of Human Rights; http://www.globalization101.org/three-
generations-of-rights/; 1991
4. What are Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; http://www.cesr.org/what-are-
economic-social-and-cultural-rights;

Written by:
Christopher S. Espiritu
AMA Caloocan Campus