Political Science · Western Political Thought
UGC NET 2023 Political Science
Who among the following dismissed the idea of natural rights as 'rhetorical nonsense'?
AJ. S. Mill
BAdam Smith
CHerbert Spencer
DJ. Bentham ✓ Correct
Correct answer: (D) J. Bentham — The thinker who dismissed natural rights as 'rhetorical nonsense' is Jeremy Bentham.
Explanation
★The thinker who dismissed natural rights as 'rhetorical nonsense' is Jeremy Bentham.
★Bentham called natural rights 'nonsense upon stilts' and natural law 'rhetorical nonsense', rejecting any rights not grounded in law.
★For him real rights are legal rights created by the state and valued for the utility they produce.
★He attacked the abstract natural-rights language of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man as vague and unverifiable.
★J. S. Mill, Adam Smith, and Herbert Spencer worked in other directions and did not coin this dismissal.
★This utilitarian rejection of natural rights stands against the natural-rights tradition of Locke and the social-contract theorists.
Want more like this? Create a free account to practise a full test, track your progress, and get spaced-repetition review.
Shared by Mcqkart · via Mcqkart.in