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Human Rights

What Are Human Rights?

Tim Dare considers how far human rights claims can stretch.

Human rights are, of course, rights of a certain kind, and rights are specific kinds of moral, political or legal claims. Consider the following cases. Suppose I lose my wallet and won’t be able to get home unless I come up with $5.00 for the train. I might ask a colleague for a loan, pointing out that, were he to agree, he would display the virtues of generosity and kindness, and would also promote utility, since his $5.

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