Contemporary Moral Problems

Book Review Chapter 1: Ethical Theories:

Ronald Dworkin: Taking Rights Seriously

Library Reference: N/A

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Moral-Problems-James-White/dp/0534584306/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233793391&sr=8-1

Quote:  “if a people have a right to do something, then it is wrong to interfere with them”

    This is abuse if someone else interferes with your right. It is a violation of your right and you have the right to file a case against the violator.

Learning Expectation:

    As we have discussed in the previous chapter, rights are morals and they are supposed to be valued and it is in their nature to be valued and fought by people. For some reason, there are actually people who don’t really bother or care about some rights they have as compared to people who are so paranoid about their rights. It is very interesting to see how this chapter would be discussing taking rights seriously.

Review:

    Like what I have said in my learning expectation, there are actually people who don’t really bother or care about some rights they have as compared to people who are so paranoid about their rights. This is morally wrong because rights are rights. They are like treasures or they are like a part of the family. People tend to only concentrate on those rights that are valuable to them but they don’t fully value all their rights. They just let some rights of theirs pass away and let other people inherit what they neglected. On the brighter side of the one who’s going to inherit it, they are lucky to have escaped or accumulated whatever it is they got from the victim. But basically, everyone should take rights seriously.

    The author of this chapter is Ronald Dworkin. A University Professor of Jurisprudence in Oxford University, and professor of law in New York University. Just like the many philosophers, Dworkin wrote books like A Matter of Principle, Law’ Empire, A Bill of Rights for Britain, and many more.

Dworkin says that if a people have a right to do something, then it is wrong to interfere with them. This is actually true and I agree with Dworkin on this. Not to mention, a right is a right. Interfering with it is violating that right. Dworkin believes that this notion of rights rest on the Kantian idea of treating people with dignity as members of the moral community, and also on the idea of political quality.

What I’ve learned:

    I have learned that you must not interfere with someone else’s right unless it is for a reason that will harm you for example. Rights are supposed to be valued and taken seriously. People should I think start learning this because as I have said, there are many who just let their right be abused or violated.

Questions:

1.    Does everyone belief in Dworkin’s belief?

2.    How does his belief affect people?

3.    Do philosophers agree?

4.    What made Dworkin write this?

5.    Is this common sense or what?

Citation: (James E. White, St. Cloud State University, 2003)