Whose rights are paramount here?
priority? Using our previous example of the building of a dam, people have the right to use their property. If their land happens to be in the way of a proposed dam, then rights ethics would hold that this property right is paramount and is suf- fi cient to stop the dam project. A single property holder’s objection would require that the project be terminated. However, there is a need for others living in nearby communities to have a reliable water supply and to be safe from continual fl ooding. Whose rights are paramount here? Rights and duty ethics don’t resolve this confl ict very well; hence, the utilitarian approach of trying to determine the most good is more useful in this case.
The second problem with duty and rights ethics is that these theories don’t always account for the overall good of society very well. Since the emphasis is on the individual, the good of a single individual can be paramount compared to what is
Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher whose work included early formulations of duty ethics. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.