2013 Essay Contest:
Which rights should prevail?
Essay Topic
In 2012, Faith McGregor filed a human rights complaint against Muslim barber Omar Mahrouk for having refused to provide her with a men’s haircut. Mr. Mahrouk refused to provide his hair-cutting services to Ms. McGregor based on the Muslim teaching that a man should not touch the hair of a woman outside of his family. Ms. McGregor claims she is entitled to be free from discrimination based on her gender.
In 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Bill Whatcott’s right to hand out flyers which express – in polemical and vitriolic language – his opposition to homosexuality. Whatcott’s free expression rights must give way to the equality claims of those who took offense.
These are just two examples of the difference between what many philosophers have called “negative rights” and “positive rights”.
Negative rights protect the individual against interference from other individuals and from government in the use and peaceful enjoyment of their life, liberty, and property. Negative rights include religious freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and the right to own and enjoy one’s private property.
Positive rights entitle the individual to receive products, services, or other benefits from other individuals or from government. Positive rights include the right to food, clothing, housing, clean drinking water, health care, education, and freedom from discrimination.
The question for the JCCF’s 2013 Essay Contest is:
Positive rights versus negative rights: which should prevail, and why?
Prize
1st - $1,000
2nd - $500
3rd - $250
Eligibility
This contest is open to those who were students at a Canadian university or college during this past 2012-13 school year (including full-time and part-time students) and to those who will be commencing studies (full-time or part-time) at a Canadian college or university this September 2013.
Length, format, and evaluation criteria
The essay should range from 1,500 to 2,500 words, and should be submitted in PDF or Word formaton the website or emailed to . Judges will be drawn from among the members of the JCCF’s Advisory Council and Board of Directors. The quality of the writing, and the persuasiveness of argument, will be the central criteria considered by the judges.
Deadline and Early Bird Deadline
Essays must be submitted by September 1, 2013. Those who submit their completed essay on or before July 1, 2013, will receive a FREE registration to the 2013 Liberty Summer Seminar in Orono, Ontario.
Suggested Reading
Students may use, but are not limited to, the following texts to construct their essays:
Frederick Bastiat, “The Law”
Isaiah Berlin, “Two Concepts of Liberty”
William Blackstone, “Commentaries on the Laws of England”
Erich Fromm, “The Fear of Freedom”
Steven Horwitz, “Positive Rights as Means not Ends”
Gerald C. MacCallum, “Negative and Positive Freedom”
Tibor R. Machan, “The Perils of Positive Rights”
Tom G. Palmer, “Saving Rights Theory from its Friend”
Ron Replogle, “Recovering the Social Contract” Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (June 28, 1989). pg 164
Aeon Skoble, “Positive Rights vs. Negative Rights” (video)
Aeon Skoble, “What are Rights?” (video)
Charles Taylor, “What’s Wrong with Negative Liberty”
Rousseau, “The Social Contract”
Walter Williams, “Rights vs. Wishes”