Thursday, January 28, 2016

Human Right and Perfect Duty

Corresponding to a Right is a Duty, i. e. if one possesses a Right, others have a Duty to honor it.  Now, in Kant's doctrine, non-interference in the well-being of another is a Perfect Duty, while promotion of the well-being of another is an Imperfect Duty.  Thus, accordingly, the Right to not be interfered with in the pursuit of well-being is Perfect, while the Right to the promotion of that well-being by another is Imperfect.  In contrast, at least one Human Right is elevated to the status of Perfect, in Kant's sense of the term--the Right to an adequate standard of living.  Thus, correspondingly, others have a Perfect Duty to promote that standard wherever it is lacking.

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