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On Dworkin's Rights Theory

Posted on:2006-01-17Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:S X JiaFull Text:PDF
GTID:2156360152991402Subject:Marxist theory and ideological and political education
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This article is mainly in the background of multi-subject of political philosophy, legal philosophy and moral philosophy, analyzing the famous American scholar Dworkin's Rights Theory. For Dworkin, Rights is the moral foundation of law. If the government couldn't deal with Rights seriously, then they couldn't deal with law seriously. The main point of moral claim to governmental behavior is equal, that is, government must care for and respect for all the people.In the introduction, I briefly describe Dworkin and the background of his Rights Theory. Young political movement, Negro civil Rights movement and antiwar movement link together, formatting the social protest march in 1960 in America, which challenged the orthodox ideology and the whole institution, and thus promoted Dworkin' s Rights Theory coming into being.This article is divided into three charters, detailedly demonstrating Dworkin's Rights Theory.Chapter one introduces how the Rights theory brought forward. In this part, I begin with the debate of utility and Rights in philosophy, demonstrating the academic background, which provided a basic academic frame, and prepared for Dworkin to retort legal positivism—utilitarianism in law, and construct a new Rights theory. From explaining rule and principle, principle and policy, judicial judgment freely, Dworkin criticized legal positivism for its only paying attention to statutes but ignoring moral.Chapter two explains the part of how to deal with Rights seriously. This part is the core of The Rights Theory. Dworkin claimed that the Rights to oppose government is a moral Rights which citizen should have, and this Rights shouldn't be deprived for the warrant of social universal interest, majority's interest and anticipated important interest. Furthermore, these Rights can be realized only after being tolerated by government. From expatiating the relation of equality and liberty, equality to wealth, virtue of government and citizen's obeying law by goodwill, Dworkin explained the Rights theory of which equality regards as the core concept. He pointed out that equality is the essential basis, and the foundation of liberty. He chose equality the most important category. He claimed that equality is the aim, and liberty can be significant only when it regards as the means to realize equality. Other liberty except for this, when conflicted with equality, must make place for the latter.Chapter three makes a comment on the Rights Theory. I turn to analyze Dworkin's Rights Theory. First, I renewably interpret the relation of liberty andequality. Second, I point out the doubt left when Dworkin proved his theory, and make the conclusion that equality isn't the more essential concept than liberty, and there are still many questions at calculating partiality and collective welfare.In the epilogue, I summarize the essential of the Rights Theory, trying to comprehend the Rights Theory from reality and grander context. I point out that with citizen's independent personality shaping step by step, the subject to interest pluralized and the people's interest divided, the problem how to protect all kinds of interest and adjust the interest relation of different subject should be settled in time. But only after changing and renovating the concept, the problem can be settled exactly.
Keywords/Search Tags:Rights, Rights theory, Dworkin, legal positivism, utilitarianism
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