Grounding Rights

Both rights and well-being are essential parts of our public and private morality. But how are the two related? The aim of the project Grounding Rights is to study the dependence relations between these two central elements: First, are all rights grounded in aspects of well-being? And second, are certain aspects of well-being themselves grounded in having rights?

The first question neatly connects to the debate over the nature of rights. According to the popular interest theory of rights, facts about rights are grounded in aspects of the well-being of the respective right-holders. While the core idea that rights must be “good for something” appears quite plausible, the interest theory struggles with rights that are apparently not grounded in the right-holder's interests, such as the right to child benefit or the right of a judge to sentence a convict.

Against this background, we propose to pursue in the first sub-project the hypothesis (H1) that all rights are grounded in an aspect of the well-being of the right-holder or of some other party. On this “extended interest theory”, third-party interests can directly, i.e. without detour via the right-holder's own interest, ground rights. Closer examination of this hypothesis will require not only replying to sceptical concerns about interest theories in general, but also specifying how the supposed grounding is meant to work.

Regarding the second question, it has been argued that violation of rights is necessarily disrespectful. But what explains the link between rights and respect? While standard interest theories can easily accommodate this connection, theories that don't ground rights in properties of the right-holder herself struggle to account for it. The puzzle could be resolved if we assume that rights themselves ground aspects of the well-being of their holder, independently of what they may be grounded in themselves. In order to defend this hypothesis (H2), however, a closer characterisation of these interests must be given, as well as an investigation of the circumstances under which rights ground interests. This will be done in the second sub-project.

Framing the debates in terms of grounding is a novel approach with the potential to profoundly reshape the discussion about the relations between rights and well-being. However, before utilizing this tool it will be necessary that it is first theoretically refined. Elaborating our conception of grounding will therefore be part of the conceptual groundwork, as will an analysis of the concepts of a right, in particular of the relations between different usages of the term, and of an interest. Better understanding the dependence relations between rights and well-being is also likely to have repercussions on other debates in moral and political philosophy.

Project leader: Prof. Dr. Christoph Halbig
Academic associates: Dr. Micha Gläser, Simon Ewers