Why is it disrespectful to violate rights?

Citation

Cruft R (2013) Why is it disrespectful to violate rights?. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 113 (2, part 2), pp. 201-224. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9264.2013.00352.x

Abstract
Violating a person's rights is disrespectful to that person. This is because it is disrespectful to someone to violate duties owed to that person. I call these ‘directed duties'; they are the flipside of rights. The aim of this paper is to consider why directed duties and respect are linked, and to highlight a puzzle about this linkage, a puzzle arising from the fact that many directed duties are justified independently of whether they do anything for those to whom they are owed.

Keywords
rights; duties; respect; individualism

Journal
Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society: Volume 113, Issue 2, part 2

People

Professor Rowan Cruft

Professor, Philosophy