Some Confusions Concerning Collective Rights

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in considering collectivities to be moral agents and holders of collective rights. While the term ‘collective right’ has become familiar through these political debates, one would be hard pressed to find references to collective rights in any dictionary or encyclopaedia of philosophy or in any standard work on political philosophy. Most proponents of collective tights, at least in recent political debate in Canada, seek to ascribe them to groups such as ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities. Much of the energy of defenders of collective rights seems to be spent arguing for the moral importance of communities, and charging opponents of collective rights with denying any value to communities, or subscribing to a incorrect ontology of groups. The concept of a collective interest is that of an interest of a group over and above that of the members of the group, such that the group interest might conflict those of the members.