Interpreting the right to life

Main Article Content

J. O. Famakinwa

Abstract

What does the right to life mean? The article considers three interpretations: (i) the right to life as the right to life-sustaining essentials, (ii) the right to life as the right not to be killed,s and (iii) the right to life as the right not to be killed unjustly. The article argues that (i) and (iii) accurately define the human right to life. The primary method is philosophical analysis. The article concludes that the right to life is best defined or interpreted as either the right to life-sustaining goods (material or non-material) or the right not to be killed unjustly.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

How to Cite
Famakinwa, J. O. 2011. “Interpreting the Right to Life”. Diametros, no. 29 (September):22-30. https://doi.org/10.13153/diam.29.2011.443.
Section
Articles
Author Biography

J. O. Famakinwa, Obafemi Awolowo University

J.O. Famakinwa, PhD Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria akinolanipekun@yahoo.com
Share |

References

Child [1994] – J.W. Child, Can Libertarianism Sustain a Fraud Standard?, “Ethics” (104) 1994. Declarations of Independence of the United States of America, July 4th, 1776.

Dworkin [1977] – R. Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously, Duckworth, London 1977.

Hobbes [1969] – T. Hobbes, Human Nature, [in:] British Moralists 1650-1800, D.D. Raphael (ed.), Clarendon Press, Oxford 1969.

Levine [1988] – A. Levine Arguing for Socialism Verso, London 1988.

Locke [1989] – J. Locke, An Essay Concerning Civil Government, [in:] Great Books of the Western World, R.M. Hutchins (ed.), William Benton Publisher, Chicago 1989.

Nozick [1974] – R. Nozick, Anarchy State and Utopia, Basic Books, New York 1974.

Rawls [1995] – J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice, The Belknap Press, Cambridge 1995.

Shute, Hurley [1993] – S. Shute, S. Hurley, On Human Right (The Oxford Amnesty Lecture 1993), BasicBooks, New York 1993.

Taylor [1992] – C. Taylor, Atomism, [in:] Communitarianism and Individualism, S. Avinery, A. De–Shalit (ed.),Oxford University Press, Oxford 1992.

Thomson [1996] – J.J. Thomson, A Defense of Abortion, [in:] Today’s Moral Issues, D. Bonevac (ed.), Mayfield Publishing Company, London 1996.

Thomson [2006] – J.J. Thomson, The Trolley Problem, [in:] Ethics, Theory, and Contemporary Issues, S.M. Cahn, P. Markie (ed.), Oxford University Press, New York 2006.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights [1948].

Wolf [2000] – R.P. Wolf, ‘In Defense of Anarchism’, [in:] Political Philosophy: Classic and Contemporary Reading, L.P. Pojman (ed.), Mc Graw Hill, Boston 2000.

Yezzi [1980] – R. Yezzi, Medical Ethics, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York 1980.

Most read articles by the same author(s)