Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


Natural RIghts and Convention-1.pdf (4.2 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Natural Rights and Convention

Bryan, Benjamin
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1467724912

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, Philosophy, Applied.
According to natural rights theory, both individual actions and political institutions must respect people’s natural rights—those rights that belong to people in virtue of what they are (human beings or persons), not in virtue of their particular social or political circumstances. This dissertation addresses a common worry about natural rights theory, which I call the “Conventionalist Challenge.” The Conventionalist Challenge charges that natural rights theory fails to account for the ways that people’s moral rights depend on social and legal conventions. I develop a form of natural rights theory that overcomes the Conventionalist Challenge. I argue that while people have natural rights, the precise requirements of these rights are spelled out by conventions. In fact, I argue, our natural rights morally require that we create conventions that spell out the fine-grained details of what we owe one another. This view captures what is attractive about natural rights theory—the idea that all human beings have rights that political institutions (and other individuals) must respect—without denying that our moral rights also depend in important ways on local conventions.
Fred Miller (Advisor)
Kevin Vallier (Committee Member)
Albert Dzur (Committee Member)
Eric Mack (Committee Member)
Kevin Quinn (Other)
102 p.
Philosophy
Convention; Eric Mack; John Locke; Liam Murphy; Justice; Natural Rights; Thomas Nagel;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Bryan, B. (2016). Natural Rights and Convention [Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1467724912

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Bryan, Benjamin. Natural Rights and Convention. 2016. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1467724912.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Bryan, Benjamin. "Natural Rights and Convention." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1467724912

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1467724912
1,685
© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.