Ethics

What is the difference between a "right" and a "privilege". For example, is driving a right or a privilege? Is higher education a right or a privilege? How can one differentiate between the two?

Comments

An excellent question. Let us think this through just considering the ordinary usage of these words in English. Although the terms seem to overlap in the way you describe, in fact they appear to belong to entirely different realms. A ‘right’ is generally taken to be a moral claim that anyone who wishes to perform a certain action, or maintain in a particular state, ought to be allowed to do so. Rights may be protected by laws, but we normally do not think of them as created by laws, or that they should only apply in certain places, times, or for certain people. So, if there is a right to free speech in one nation, people there would believe that citizens of another nation ought also to have that right.

A ‘privilege’, on the other hand, tends to be used as a legal or social term. It refers to the fact that some action or course of events is permitted within a local place or time, and only because of some particular property of the person involved. Someone who belongs to a particular club may have privileges that others do not have.

Is education a right or a privilege? Well, both perhaps, at the same time. As a matter of fact, it is a privilege of those who can afford it, live in a particular area, or are very clever, etc. However, arguably, morally it ought not to be a privilege, but a right. Both can be true because the terms belong to different realms of thinking.

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