Moral Rights And Interest Theory: The Concept Of Human Rights

Introduction

The philosophy of human rights attempted to examine the underlying basic of the concept of human right and critically looks at its content and justification. Several theoretical approaches have been advanced to explain how and why human rights become part of social expectations. One of the oldest western philosophies on human rights is that they are a product of a natural law, stemming from different philosophical or religious grounds. Other theories hold that human rights codifies moral behavior which is a human social product developed by a process of biological and social evolution (associated by Hume). Human rights are also described as a sociological pattern of rule setting (as in the sociological theory of law and the works of Weber). These approaches included the notion that individual in a society accept rules from legitimate authority in exchange for security and economic advantages (as in Rawls) – social contract. The two theories that dominate contemporary human rights discussion are the interest theory and the will theory. Interest theory argues that the that the principle function of human rights is to protect and promote certain essential human interests, while will theory attempts to establish the validity of human rights based on the unique human capacity for freedom.

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Human Rights is not a modern phenomenon. It is the result of a long process of evolution. E.S. Venkataramaiah is of the opinion that the