The most influential theories of claims within contemporary rights theory are considered in relation to the demand-right problem. Starting with Hohfeld’s equivalence, contemporary theorists generally aim for an account of claims such that the members of a certain canonical set of claim-ascriptions are true. In pursuit of this aim they tend to focus on directed duties and to assume that these are in part constituted by plain duties. Reviewing the results obtained by adopting this aim and method, this chapter argues that in order to solve the demand-right problem we need to go beyond the resources of Thomson’s constraint theory, Joseph Raz’s “interest” theory, and similar views. The same goes for Hart’s “choice” theory and related positions, and several other approaches more briefly considered.
Application of vested interest theory to prevention of non-medical prescription stimulant and marijuana use: Unforeseen benefits of attitude-behavior inconsistency