Where do Rights come from?
- Thread starter Silent_One
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RM. Andersson
Newcomer
Sabastian said:RussSchultz said:
hehe.
For all intesive purposes though it does seem as though the push for these "positive rights" do come primarily from the left.
Yes, they do. Trust me. I know. I hear such talk every day where I live.
And I have to pay about 60% tax to pay for them all
This is much like the discussion people have over whether mathematics is discovered or invented
Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that human rights were "discovered", and that they exist, much like PI exists, and Euclidean geometry exists. That is, we did not invent them, we "found them"
If you think that this somehow makes these rights more legitimate, you are sadly mistaken. There are an infinitude of mathematical theorems that exist, there are an infinitude of numbers like PI, and there are an infinite number of systems of rights that we can "discover"
All this does is to shift the burden to justify why YOUR "discovery" of Rights_X is the only true and correct one, and that Hitler's "discovery" of Rights_Y is less legitimate. Stalin, Marx, and Lenin also "discovered" systems of rights for people as well.
Thomas Jefferson discovered one system of rights handed down from the Creator, but there are thousands of other human beings who discovered systems of rights that are in many ways, antithetical to Jefferson.
Rights as a discovered concept, given by the Creator, or by the universe, is a philosophically bankrupt way of justifying that those rights should exist, and cannot be taken away.
I prefer to think that we, as human beings, have decided together, that these rights are inalienable, because we want everyone to have them, because people want to be free, not because God wants freedom for us.
The attempt to elevate these rights to almost religious principles beyond justification is an error.
I am a libertarian, and I believe I endow my fellow man with rights and he endows me with them. I do not believe I do this because I believe God gave you them. I do this because I do unto you as I would have you do unto me.
Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that human rights were "discovered", and that they exist, much like PI exists, and Euclidean geometry exists. That is, we did not invent them, we "found them"
If you think that this somehow makes these rights more legitimate, you are sadly mistaken. There are an infinitude of mathematical theorems that exist, there are an infinitude of numbers like PI, and there are an infinite number of systems of rights that we can "discover"
All this does is to shift the burden to justify why YOUR "discovery" of Rights_X is the only true and correct one, and that Hitler's "discovery" of Rights_Y is less legitimate. Stalin, Marx, and Lenin also "discovered" systems of rights for people as well.
Thomas Jefferson discovered one system of rights handed down from the Creator, but there are thousands of other human beings who discovered systems of rights that are in many ways, antithetical to Jefferson.
Rights as a discovered concept, given by the Creator, or by the universe, is a philosophically bankrupt way of justifying that those rights should exist, and cannot be taken away.
I prefer to think that we, as human beings, have decided together, that these rights are inalienable, because we want everyone to have them, because people want to be free, not because God wants freedom for us.
The attempt to elevate these rights to almost religious principles beyond justification is an error.
I am a libertarian, and I believe I endow my fellow man with rights and he endows me with them. I do not believe I do this because I believe God gave you them. I do this because I do unto you as I would have you do unto me.
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