I argue that one has a right when another has a normative constraint with respect to one. The fact that claims and immunities are the only Hohfeldian elements which constrain another combined with the fact that rights necessarily constrain others gives us reason to think that to have a right is to have either a claim OR an immunity. Hohfeldian elements can be defined in terms of fundamental normative concepts such as obligation and impossibility. This analysis provides a plausible account of liberty and power rights. The analysis also resolves the puzzles surrounding mandatory or obligation rights and rights which do not benefit the rightholder. To have a normative constraint with respect to another is to have an obligation or impossibility grounded in a feature of the rightholder. The analysis of rights provides good, but not conclusive, reason to think that there are moral rights. Further, the analysis reveals that the specificity view of rights conflict is true.

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Thesis advisor: James F. Keenan / I have titled this thesis “A hermeneutical approach to natural law,” and I want to investigate the making of moral theology in accounting for the contributions of the natural sciences. Thinking in terms of the theological and scientific discourses, one realizes that both render distinct interpretations of nature, and natural law arguments emerge from these interpretations in the sphere of ethics. Thus, a hermeneutics of the scientific activity and of moral reasoning delineates a major field of the dialogue between faith and reason. / Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Thesis (M. Div.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, N.Y., 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-103) and index.

Thesis ( Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-209). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Köln.

A revision of the author's thesis, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen. / Bibliography: p. [305]-338.

Thesis (M. Div.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, N.Y., 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-103) and index.

Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, Vancouver, BC, 1999. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-171).

Thesis--Berlin. / Cover title. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. [96]-99).