Natural Rights and John Locke Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Natural Rights and John Locke - Essay Example According to the research findings rights are normative fundamental rules that delineate what people are allowed to do and what is owed to the people. These demarcations are carried out on the basis of some ethical theory, legal system or some kind of social convention. The domain of rights spans legal, social and ethical principles of entitlement and freedom. Rights in themselves are considered fundamental to civilisation and are taken as pillars of culture and social living. There are a number of different perspectives on rights that have evolved over time and are now used to deal with this issue. One of these perspectives on rights is that of natural rights that has gained currency over centuries. Any rights that are not dependent on laws, beliefs, culture, customs, government or other such features and are thus universal and inalienable in nature are better known as natural rights. These rights stand in contrast to legal rights that are bestowed on an individual through the autho rity of the law or through a political or legal framework. In this sense, these legal rights are relative and specific within the context of the culture and government implementing them. Natural rights on the other hand are universal and inalienable and do not require any frameworks to support themselves. The domain of natural law is closely associated and is considered an extension to natural rights. The theory of natural law was used to challenge the divine rights of kings during the Age of Enlightenment. The domain of natural rights was used to provide justification for and to establish government, social contract as well as positive law that in turn provided for legal rights through classical republicanism. Anarchists have used the idea of natural rights to confront the legitimacy of establishments of all kinds (Rothbard, 2003) (Rothbard, 2006). Some schools of thought have related human rights closely to natural rights while other schools of thought tend to recognise no differe nce between human rights and natural rights. Although there are common features between both domains but some thinkers have kept both domains separated in order to eliminate association between both (Jones, 1994). In particular the domain of natural rights are considered to be beyond the authority of any establishment such as governments or international bodies such that these establishments cannot dismiss these rights. Natural rights have been enshrined into international soft law through the use of instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the twentieth century, the domain of natural rights has attracted the interests of philosophers and legal scholars alike. There has been added interest in the natural rights of animals especially in recent decades. It must be kept in mind that the natural rights of human beings are distinct from the natural rights of animals (Dershowitz, 2004). This text will attempt to track the evolution of natural rights from antiquity to the political thought of John Locke who can be seen as a prominent proponent of natural rights. The perspectives on natural rights will be elaborated and then compared to the political philosophy of John Locke in order to gauge a fair comparison. 2. Evolution of Natural Rights Throughout history legal rights have had an undeniable existence as all societies possessed some form of legal frameworks to keep social order in check. In a similar manner the idea that certain rights are bestowed by nature and are inalienable date back to antiquity to at least the age of the Stoics from late Antiquity. The domain of natural rights figured prominently in Catholic law during the early part of the Middle Ages and can be seen as evolving through the Protestant Reformation as well. This evolution continued through the Age of Enlightenment and into the modern day (Zuckert, 1994). 2.1. Antiquity The concept of natural rights