Investigating the Real or Conventional Nature of Right in Ayatollah Mesbah's View

The present article deals with one of the important philosophical discussions on “right”; that is the question of whether “right” in the usage of “having right” is a real entity or a conventional one. For example, when we say “God has the right to create” or “man has the right of living”, is this right, disregarding the making of the Maker, real in itself or a conventional one? If “right” is an objective reality, then all “rights” are among objective are discoverable realities,, and one must refer to objective realities to find out about them. Otherwise, the concept of “right” is among conventional affairs, does not show any reality and, in that case, all “rights” depend on the subjective consideration of those who create such conventions. Since Ayatolah Mesbah is among prominent and authoritative experts in human sciences, his view on the issue of “right” is an influential one. The present article attempts to investigate his view in this regard and is seeking to explain the claim that based on the foundations of Ayatollah Mesbah’s ideas, as well as various meanings of the word “conventional”, “right” is not merely of a conventional nature; rather, one may consider a non-conventional nature for it as well.