ABSTRACT
The ethics of duty and rights implies important corrections to the free market and limits the scope for the utilitarian calculus of maximizing the total sum of utilities. In our Western society, the protection of the individual is generally considered to have a higher priority than the maximization of the interests of the majority. Duties and rights reflect so to speak incommensurable values that cannot be substituted by favorable consequences for large groups. In order to safeguard these values, Western societies have introduced in more or less degree institutions that limit the scope of competition to a degree such that these basic rights are respected.
