Law of the Jungle (or rather: Dignity and an Interest Theory of Rights)

Speaker: Tom West

Rights are powerful creatures. This is especially true within the modern human rights regime. However, the philosophical basis of human rights is not always entirely clear. Although premised on the notion of inherent dignity, the meaning of this is difficult to expand on. Through analysing the structure of rights, a route can be offered which provides an understanding of what human rights are trying to achieve.

According to the interest theory, rights protect interests. Human rights also protect inherent human dignity. These two descriptions of the function of ‘rights’ together provide a route to learning a little bit more about what human dignity is. By analysing the interests which are protected by the human rights regime, some core features of dignity can be discovered. In doing this, it becomes apparent that there are several aspects to human dignity which are not particularly human after all. There are nonhuman interests parallel to those protected by human rights. Does this mean that nonhuman dignity exists? Does it mean that nonhuman rights should exist?

All are welcome and we look forward to seeing you there!