The Difference Between Negative Rights and Positive Rights

Here’s a very good explanation by J.P. Moreland, professor of philosophy at Biola University, from his recent interview with Hugh Hewitt:

A negative right is a right for me to be protected from harm if I try to get something for myself. A positive right would be my right to have something provided for me.

If health care is a negative right, then the state has an obligation to keep people from preventing me from getting health care and discriminating against me. If health care’s a positive right, then the state has an obligation to provide it for me.

As I read the New Testament, the government’s responsibility, and by the way, I think the Old Testament prophets say this, too, is I read the prophets in the New Testament, the government’s job is to protect negative rights, not to provide positive rights. So as a Christian, I believe in a minimal government. It’s not the government’s job to be providing the health care benefits for people. So I will be looking to see if Obama does things to minimize the role of government in culture, and to provide for as much human freedom as possible.

Related posts:

January 30, 2009 | Filed Under Politics | 3 Comments 
Email This | Delicious | Digg

Comments

3 Responses to “The Difference Between Negative Rights and Positive Rights”

  1. Brian Phillips on February 2nd, 2009 1:10 pm

    My high school government teacher helpfully explained, “Your right to freedom of speech ends where my right to live free from offense begins.”

    I think this is a helpful illustration. Rights are not unlimited- even the government’s rights.

  2. Steve on May 1st, 2009 3:33 pm

    @Brian

    Did your government teacher happen to explain where his right to “live free from offense” came from? It’s certainly not in the constitution and such thinking has been the source of much of our culture’s unfortunate focus on Political Correctness.

  3. Brian Phillips on May 1st, 2009 4:12 pm

    I think the point wasn’t “PC”; it was more like (for example) you can scream profanity in your home if you want, but you can’t sit behind me in a movie theater and scream profanity in my ear while I try to watch a movie. That would be illegal.

    You freedom of speech isn’t an unlimited freedom. There are parameters.

Leave a Reply