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Demo Classroom Debate: Medical Ethics
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Selected claim, supporting its parent
According to libertarians only
negative rights
can be absolute. Positive "rights" such as a right to healthcare would infringe on the negative rights of others.
Pros
Cons
Pro claim 1
The
inconclusivity
of positive rights further differentiates them from negative rights. Positive rights can never be enforced absolutely often due to constraints on resources. When deciding to what extent positive rights should be enforced, this issue can only be resolved by applying other moral considerations (such as need or equality).
Pro claim 2
Negative rights are scalable and can be universalized. Positive rights have limitations and are often contingent on factors such as citizenship, legal status, and government.
Pro claim 3, children below
People will need to pay more taxes for the institution of universal healthcare. In cases where people do not wish to do so but must by virtue of this policy being implemented, it would be an infringement upon their liberties.
Con claim 1, children below
According to Henry Shue, all moral rights have negative and positive aspects, and therefore there are no purely negative or positive rights, but only "mixed" rights (
pg.7
).