Study On Western Modern Natural Rights Concepts Their Origin, Essence And Historical Effects

Natural rights concepts in ancient times were the notions on rights founded by political theorists in western modern age. Natural rights concepts asked for the help of the super authority of nature law, regarded freedom and equality as the value claim, and regarded freedom, independence, property etc. as the contents. They are the foundation of modern state notion and are important parts of political thought history in west. Western modern natural rights concepts not only geared to the development of the capitalism market economy, but also reflected the demands of the development of market economy on expanding the personal rights and adjusting the relation between the state and the individual. Hence, it is very important for us to understand modern natural rights notions fully and correctly both in theory and in practice. Guided by Marxism, the thesis tends to study the origin, formation and development of modern natural rights concepts, try to reveal the essence and characters, summarize their effects both on theory and on practice. Finally, the author analyzes their limitations with Marxism.The thesis is divided into five parts totally.The first part is to expound the origin of modern rights concepts. In the author's opinion, such notions stemmed from the argument on rights in Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, with the growth of civil society, development of cities and revival of business in west, freedom and equality became the focus that people concern, at the same time, the problem on property became the heat topic. The subjective right concept was raised in contestation, which was the bud of modern natural rights notions. It was the Papacy under John XXII, Pierre d'Ailly, William of Ockham, Fitzralph of Armagh, Jean Gerson, Conrad Summenthart who had contributed to the formation of the subjective right. However, such a concepts of subjective right differed from that of modern natural right, which based on human innate nature essentially.The second part combs with the thought of representatives who held the modern natural rights concepts. The Renaissance and The Reformation brought the independence of reason and rediscovered of human nature. The modern natural rights concepts, based on the human reason, asking for help of the authoritative outer shell of the natural law, on the background of opposing the feudal tyranny, began to acquire modern meaning. Natural rights were considered as individual rights that were innate, common and prior. They were the limits to the power of state and were the reasonable ethics basis of legal rights. Hugo Grotius first expounded the theory of natural rights. Thomas Hobbes set up the natural rights theories on the abstract human nature principle for the first time. Spinoza talked about nature rights in details at an angle of the ethics and demonstrated the eternity and rationality of the thought liberty for the first time. Locke was the first theorist who expounded and proved natural rights systematically. The property right was the primary right in his opinion.The third part is to reveal the essence and the characters of the modern natural rights concepts. The author thinks that to sing high praise for the individual rights and personal value is the essence of the theory. There are four characters: The first, individualistic notion of human nature is the basis of the theories. Individual is put on the first place among all kinds of value. Human appetites are liberated. The second, natural law is the authority outer shell. The natural law became the tool with which people make the their interests reasonable. The third,freedom and equality are regarded as the value pursuits. The modern concept of natural rights stick to look on the freedom as the nature of rights and the initial target, and insisted that as a person purely, one person should be equal to any others and possesses some rights equally. The fourth,the theories make the reason the perceive tool. The human natural rights are cognized by reason. Hence, the human reason has the meaning of value. It beca...