Natural powers, positive rights: The evolution of human rights

This thesis examines how human rights have changed over time. As a result of the examination, it has been argued that the period when human rights gained its current meaning was the 1940s. Before this period, there were two conceptions of rights similar to human rights. The first of these two conceptions, which we consider to be the foundation of the understanding of human rights, is the concept of natural rights, put forward by the clergy in the late Middle Ages. The other is the understanding of the rights of man, which emerged in the 18th century at the behest of those in positions of economic power. The common characteristic of natural rights, human rights and human rights is that they are natural. In other words, the rights in question can exist everywhere and at all times without any change. Apart from the characteristic of being natural, the characteristics that explain who is responsible for rights, who can have rights, and what the source of these rights is, differ between the conceptions of rights. The thesis concludes that the claim that rights are natural, which is at the basis of all three conceptions, does not reflect the reality. This claim is a fiction that is used to legitimise for the establishment of ideal orders. When we look at the process of the emergence of conceptions of rights, it is claimed in the thesis that what does not change is powers instead of rights. However, it has been argued that this should not lead to the devaluation of human rights, because the rights recognised as human rights can be rationally defended without a fiction. Keywords: Natural rights, Rights of man, Human rights, Changes in human rights.