1. Home
  2. The environments of the
  3. Statement of values
  4. Value profile: respect

7.3 Value profile: respect  (Page 2/6)

<< Chapter < Page
  The environments of the     Page 2 / 6
Chapter >> Page >

    4. rights claims have to be justified. a claim is a legitimate right if…

  • It harbors a capability, the exercise of which is essential to autonomy. For example, without general and specific information, one cannot exercise one’s agency in an autonomous fashion. Thus informed consent is essential to autonomy.
  • It remains vulnerable to a “standard threat.” For example, one cannot exercise autonomous agency if one is deceived or if information crucial to responsible, autonomous action is covered over or withheld. Hence, a standard threat to informed consent is presenting false information or covering up true and vital information.
  • That the correlative duties it requires to recognize and respect autonomy do not deprive the duty-holders of anything essential. For example, I may have a right to life but that right cannot be extended to the point where I can oblige another to sacrifice her life so that I might live. To assert my right to life at the expense of others is to deprive them of something essential to their autonomy, namely, their life.

5. for every right there are correlative duties to (a) not violate or deprive another of that right, (b) prevent others from depriving individuals of their rights, and (c) aid those who have been deprived of their rights and thus restoring their dignity and autonomous agency.

These duties can rest on duty-holders who are individuals or on collectives such as organizations or institutions. For example, individuals have the duty not to deprive others of their privacy by hacking into their email accounts and reading their messages. On the other hand, the institution of civil law provides a means of aiding those who have been deprived of rights like privacy and property. This represents a collective rather than an individual duty-holder.

Table on rights and duties

Rights as modes for recognizing and respecting autonomy
Concept Definition Elaborations Examples
Right An essential capacity of action that others are obliged to recognize and respect. Framework to justify right claims: (a) Essential to autonomy; (b) Vulnerable to a standard threat; (c) Feasible in that recognizing and respecting right claims does not deprive the duty-holder of something essential. Some Key Rights in Business: Free and Informed Consent, Due Process, Privacy, Free Speech, Property, and Freedom of Conscience
Duty A principle that obliges us to recognize and respect the autonomy of others (and of ourselves). Duty Levels: (a) Not to deprive; (b) Prevent deprivation; (c) Aid the deprived These two Kantian Principles encapsulate respect for Autonomy: (1) Categorical Imperative : Act only on that maxim that can be made into a universal law; (2) Formula of the End : Treat others always as ends and never merely as means.
Correlativity of rights and duties The definition of right includes the concept of obilgation or duty. The definition of duty is built around recognizing and respecting rights. Because rights and duties are defined in terms of one another they are correlative; for every right there is a series of correlative duties. This is a controversial thesis. Nevertheless, the correlativity thesis harbors the truth that rights neither exist nor function in a vacuum. To characterize rights as claims is to imply that they are claims over someone to do something. Especially important is the notion that rights identify capacities of action that are vulnerable to standard threats.
Rights Justification Framework To establish a rights claim as legitimate, one must prove that the claim is... (1) Essential to autonomy; (2) Vulnerable to a "standard threat"; (3) Feasible in that it imposes on the duty-holders an obligation whose execution does not deprive them of something essential. In relating the right claim to autonomy, remember to connect it to one of the four senses of autonomy discussed below: (1) Self-Choice; (2) Self-Legislation; (3) Authenticity; (4) Self-Decision.
Identifying Correlative Duties Correlative duties form levels and often proceed from basic individual duties to social or collective duties (a) Duty not to deprive an individual of a right; (b)Duty to protect others from being deprived of their rights; (c) Duty to aid those who have been deprived of their rights. The first two correlative duties are generally carried out by individuals : (a) For example, one cannot deprive others of their rights to informed consent by withholding information; (b) If someone else is withholding information and one can prevent deprivation by revealing this information, then one has a duty to do so; (c) But often societies collectively aid those who have been deprived of their rights by creating legal procedures that those suffering rights deprivations can appeal to.
<< Chapter < Page Page > Chapter >>

Read also:

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, The environments of the organization. OpenStax CNX. Feb 22, 2016 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11447/1.9
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'The environments of the organization' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask