Scanlon, Thomas2009-10-152009Scanlon, Thomas. 2009. Rights and interests. In Arguments for a better world: Essays in honor of Amartya Sen. Vol. 1, Ethics, welfare, and measurement, ed. Kaushik Basu and Ravi Kanbur, 68-79. Oxford: Oxford University Press.97801992391159780199239993http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3351713Rights are defined by certain specific duties, and they are justified on the ground that they are necessary to protect important individual interests. The paper examines the relation between a right and the duties that define it, and the relation between a right and the interests that justify it. The latter form of justification is not "instrumental," in a way that contrasts with the justification of other moral claims. The idea that rights conflict and must be “balanced” against each other is a mistake. Interests can conflict and must be balanced; rights must be defined so that they do not conflict.endeontologyconsequentialismbalancinginterestsrightsMonograph or Book10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239115.001.0001