Module 4: Lesson 3

iMMANUEL KANT AND RIGHTS THEORISTS

Immanuel Kant’s Short Biography

Kant was born in 1724 in Konigsberg, the

capital of Prusia at that time, now the city of
Kaliningrad in Russia. He was the fourth of
eleven children. He was baptized Emmanuel,
but he changed his name to Immanuel after
learning Hebrew.
 His father, Johann George Kant, was a
German harness-maker from Memel while his
mother, Regina Dorothea Reuter, was a native of
Nuremberg.
 During his youth, Kant was a solid, albeit
unspectacular student. He was reared in a pietist
household that stressed intense religious
devotion, personal humility, and a literal
interpretation of the Bible.
 Kant received a stern education – strict,
punitive, and disciplinary – that preferred Latin
and religious instruction over mathematics and
science.
 He was the last influential philosopher of the
classic period of the theory of knowledge. One
of his most prominent works is the Critique of
Pure Reason, an investigation into the structure
of reason.
 It suggests that traditional metaphysics can be
reformed through epistemology, as we can face
metaphysical problems fruitfully by
understanding the sources and limits of
knowledge.
 One of his most influential work is his treatise
on gravitation, in which he argued that attractive
forces could act at a distance without the
necessity of a transmitting medium.
 He also suggested correctly that the Milky
Way was a lens-shaped collection of stars and
that tidal friction slows Earth's rotation. Less
wisely, he was convinced that the planets were
populated, with the most superior intellects on
planets most distant from the Sun.
 Kant introduced the principles of
Categorical Imperative into Ethics in order to
distinguish the overriding objective force of
moral injunctions from the hypothetical
imperatives of other prescriptions.
 He formulated the principle as act so that
you can will the principle of your action to
become a universal law or act so that you treat
humanity as an end, never merely a means.
 According to Immanuel Kant, Man is a
rational being. Every action of man must
be in accordance with laws of reason that
makes man a moral agent. It is the duty of
man to live a moral life.
 Kant fully established the independence
of his ethics from religion via the
recognition of reason as the foundation,
goodwill as the source, and duty as the
motivation of what obliges the human
person.
 According to Immanuel Kant, the moral
authority is imminent in every man, that is
the origin of ethical obligations for man is
his/her own goodwill.
The Substance of Rights

There are two identified substances of

rights, namely: the subject, and the object.
 The Subject refer to the person endowed
with the right to do. While the Object refer to
something on which the subject has the moral
right.
The Origin of Rights

The right originates not from the person

holding it. Man has right because law provides
him this. Law provides man the power to do,
to express, to act, to receive etc. Without law
man has no right.
 Law extends and limits the right of man. It
is always the law that matters and not the
man who is trusted by law to perform his
right so as they say No one is above the law.
 Now, what is this law that gives man the
power to do? It can be a natural law and the
human law that is Civil and Ecclesiastical.
Civil law, the laws enacted by Congress;
Ecclesiastical, the laws that governs the
Church.
 Types of Rights

 Natural Rights  Alienable Rights

 Acquired Rights  Inalienable Rights
 Public Rights  Perfect Rights
 Private Rights  Imperfect Rights
 Positive Rights
 Negative Rights
Natural Rights

They are also called basic human rights

that includes; right to life, to freedom, to
obtain properties, to education. Those are
the rights endorsed by man in his/her birth.
Acquired Rights

Those rights obtained by individuals after

fulfilling some requirements as prescribed
by law.
Public Rights

It refers to the rights given to the people

by the ecclesiastical laws and civil laws.
Private Rights

It refers to the rights of the person

provided by the law of the firms, institution
or organizations formulated under the civil
law particularly the constitution of the
country.
Positive Rights

These are not confined to a person. As an

example anybody has the right to own or not
to own a property.
Negative Rights

These are power of the persons to refuse

to perform negative acts such as; stealing,
intoxication, drinking, killing, and so on.
Alienable Rights

These are transferrable or renounceable

rights. Positive rights and Negative rights
fall under this classification of rights.
Inalienable Rights

These are powers thet cannot be

transferred or renounced. Example are
religious rights or rights to life.
Perfect Rights

These are mandatory or enforceable by

law. As illustration, anyone has the right to
collect payment of debt. The rights of
anybody to help the poor, or victims of
calamities.
Imperfect Rights

These are different from the perfect ones.

They are not judicial or not enforceable by
law. Example is the right to give a tip to the
hotel ushers.
Properties of Rights

Rights have three properties, namely;

limitation, collision, and inviolability. Law
provides rights; it is also law that limits
rights. Rights are limited to avoid violation
of other’s right and this limitation must be
properly observed.