Lex’s Weblog

Contemporary Moral Problems
Book Review Chapter 1: Ethical Theories:
Ronald Dworkin: Taking Rights Seriously
Library Reference: N/A
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Moral-Problems-James-White/dp/0534584306/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233793391&sr=8-1
Quote: “The constitution fuses legal and moral issues, by making the validity of a law depend on the answer to complex moral problem.”
For my personal reaction on this statement why I choose this statement is basically this statement shows the combination of different issues which is legal and moral values that all of the rules are dependent by which the moral problems are involved. This will show that every law is valid if you have a answer on different thing which Is complicated like moral problem.
Learning Expectation:
• I want to know who is the author of the book
• I want to know what is Taking Rights Seriously
• I want to know if these are happening in the present day.
• I want to gain more knowledge about the ethical theories.
Review:
To start the discussion let me first discuss who is the author of the book to introduce that he is Ronal Dworkin, He is a professor of different university like Jurisprudence, Oxford University and New York University, he wrote different book like a bill of Rights for Britain, freedoms law, the moral reading of American constitution, sovereign virtue, the theory of practice and equality and taking rights seriously.
This review focus on different aspects like the rights of the citizens which show that are the different rights of the people within that community, if it is the citizen are involve on different situation like taking the rights of other people. It also discuss what is the rights and the right to break the law, this means that there is a certain limitation that you are able to break the law if you argue that you own opinion and you think you are doing right at the same time violating that law of the community. The next is the controversial rights this topic is showing what are the government rules that they need to fosses what are the need of different individual rights.

What I’ve learned:
• I learned who the author is and what his background is.
• I learned what is the meaning of Taking Rights Seriously
• I learned that the government must focus on the different individual rights
• I learned how the people react on the different rights by the government.
Questions:
1. It is compatible with our own culture?
2. How these theories affect the people in the world?
3. Do you think that all philosophers will go after the statement and rules?
4. What is the reason why the author wrote this book?
5. it is his own idea or he experience this?
Citation: (James E. White, St. Cloud State University, 2003)

Review Questions:
What does Dworkin mean by right in the strong sense? What rights in this sense are protected by the U.S. Constitution?
According to the chapter all of us in the world, human being have the right to do their wants and the action they want to do. Because they have the right to do something, and the wrong part is interfering the people. These sense that protected by the U.S constitution is the equal in moral community, equal politics.
Distinguish between legal and moral right. Give some example of legal rights that are not moral right, and moral right that are not legal rights.
Legal right are the right which included in the constitution or in the related to the Government or Country, this will serve as a right for all the people under the same constitution while moral right is like a natural right of a person which does not part of constitutional meaning these are the natural thing that people might experience which involves that morality of a person.
What are the two models of how a government might define the rights of its citizens? Which does Dworkin find more attractive?
There are different model first is the model of balancing the public interest of all people in their personal interest and in the community. Second is the equality in the politics this shows that the government will give the equality in all people same freedom for all the more attractive model Is the second model.
According to Dworkin, what two important ideas are behind the institution or rights?
All the information included in the right case and this will produce the correct values if ideas. The government has the possibility to show that the ideas and values are secured.