The Tracking Theory of Rights

The tracking theory is a species of the genus hybrid theories of rights – a prominent type of theory of rights, attempting to carve out a third way between interest and will theories of rights. Part of the distinctiveness of the theory is its rootedness in so-called core philosophy – and in work in contemporary epistemology, in particular.

While other third-way theories of rights have recently emerged, the most pressing initial task for any such theory is to situate itself more broadly within the established, heretofore dichotomous, interest/will theory landscape. A key feature of the tracking theory of rights is its value neutrality. The core of the tracking theory is articulated, utilising tools from, and analogising with, Robert Nozick's tracking theory of knowledge. In essence, just as for Nozick beliefs must counterfactually track truth for knowledge; so for the tracking theory of rights control over the duty must track interests on balance in control over the duty for right-holding. Finally, certain jurisprudential applications of the tracking theory are considered and teased out.