The Right to Life, the Right to Nature, and the Impact of Irish Land on Political Thought in the 1880s

Abstract The Irish Land War was a pivotal conflict in the history of liberal political thought. With significant impacts on both sides Atlantic, events Ireland were about more than self-determination. Heavily reliant discourse natural right, and asserting relationship between land ownership democratic-republican citizenship, provided vehicle for popular radical opposition to an increasingly positivist liberalism. This article examines rationales assumptions underlying demand land, how such arguments catalysed intellectual response among thinkers. Particular moral metaphysical ideas distinctiveness allowed agrarian labour radicals reassert individualized but non-possessive rights resources. Rooted materialist politics human body, this purposive conception posed threat claims private property, social order, ameliorative authority state, pressing conservative thinkers away from unstable notions individual rights. crisis over helped shift terrain argument questions participation power, toward amelioration public welfare.