23
RIGHTS |
may be treated by others, especially by those who wield political power. John Locke had identif ed the right
of ‘life, liberty and property’ as natural rights. Thomas Jefferson def ned them as the right to ‘life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness’. Such rights were described as ‘natural’ in that they were thought to be God-given
and therefore to be a part of the very core of human nature.
Natural rights did not exist simply as moral claims but were, rather, in Heywood’s view, considered to
ref ect the most fundamental inner human drives; they were the basic conditions for leading a true human
existence. Natural rights theories, therefore, served both as psychological models and as ethical systems.
The 20th century saw a ...