What Is the Will Theory of Rights?
32(4) Ratio Juris 455 (2019)
26 Pages Posted: 17 Jun 2019 Last revised: 5 Mar 2020
Date Written: June 6, 2019
Abstract
This article helps to clear up some misunderstandings about the Will Theory of rights. Section II briefly outlines the Theories of Rights. Section III elucidates some salient differences among self-described anti-Interest Theory accounts. Section IV rebuts Carl Wellman and Arthur Ripstein’s respective arguments about the Will Theory differing from “Choice” or Kantian theories of a right. Section V then offers a candidate explanation of why people might subscribe to the Will Theory in the first place.
Keywords: Legal Philosophy; Legal Theory; Jurisprudence; Theories of Rights; Interest-Will Theories Debate; Will Theory; Rights
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