Liberty, Right, and Duty: Their Conceptual Relationship

Abstract

Abstract: This paper explores the conceptual relationship between liberty, right, and duty. I begin with perhaps the most important concept in political philosophy, liberty. Having established a set of different types of liberty by adding a fourth one, I match the set of liberties with the forms of rights that have been developed more than a century ago. Next, the forms of duties are newly suggested and made corresponding with the different kinds of liberties and rights, during which I link the four political theories in history with the concepts of liberty, right, and duty in terms of their forms. The conceptual relationship between liberty, right, and duty suggests that no right to liberty of any kind can be realised without discharging a corresponding duty.