What is the difference between the will and interest theories of rights?

The will (choice) theory holds that the function of a right is to give its holder control over another's duty, so that a right-holder can waive or enforce it; the interest theory holds that a right's function is to protect some interest of the holder, allowing beings who cannot make choices to have rights.

How do rights relate to duties?

On the standard analysis a claim-right correlates with a duty in another party; for example, one person's right that a promise be kept correlates with the promisor's duty to keep it.

Moral Rights

Moral rights are normative entitlements that protect their holders' interests or choices and impose corresponding duties on others, functioning as especially weighty claims within morality.

Definition

A moral right is a justified normative constraint, typically a claim that correlates with a duty in others, that protects an aspect of the right-holder's interests or autonomy and that ordinarily may not be overridden simply because doing so would promote the greater overall good.

Scope

This topic covers the analysis of moral rights: the Hohfeldian taxonomy of jural relations, the will and interest theories of the function of rights, the distinction between claim-rights and other incidents, and the role of rights as constraints that resist being traded off for the aggregate good. It treats rights as a structural feature of morality rather than focusing on any particular substantive right.

Core questions

What is the internal structure of a right, and how do its elements relate?
Does a right function to protect the holder's choices or the holder's interests?
How do rights serve as constraints against aggregative trade-offs?
Are there natural moral rights independent of social or legal recognition?

Key theories

The Hohfeldian analysis of rights: Hohfeld's taxonomy distinguishing claims, privileges, powers, and immunities, with their correlatives, which provides the standard framework for analysing the internal structure of any right.
Will theory vs. interest theory: The dispute over the function of rights: the will (or choice) theory holds that rights protect the holder's control over others' duties, while the interest theory holds that rights protect the holder's well-being.

History

Hohfeld (1919) supplied the analytical taxonomy of jural relations that underlies modern rights theory. Hart (1955) revived the question of natural rights and developed the will theory, against which the interest theory was elaborated, and Thomson (1990) gave a detailed account of the structure and stringency of moral rights and their bearing on permissible action.

Debates

Will theory versus interest theory: Whether rights essentially confer control over others' duties or essentially protect interests bears on who can hold rights, including whether infants, animals, and the dead can have them.
Rights as constraints versus goals: Whether rights function as deontological side-constraints that may not be infringed even to minimize overall rights-violations, or as goals to be promoted, is a central structural dispute.

Key figures

Wesley Hohfeld
H. L. A. Hart
Judith Jarvis Thomson
Joseph Raz

Seminal works

hohfeld1919
hart1955
thomson1990

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the will and interest theories of rights?: The will (choice) theory holds that the function of a right is to give its holder control over another's duty, so that a right-holder can waive or enforce it; the interest theory holds that a right's function is to protect some interest of the holder, allowing beings who cannot make choices to have rights.
How do rights relate to duties?: On the standard analysis a claim-right correlates with a duty in another party; for example, one person's right that a promise be kept correlates with the promisor's duty to keep it.