Viking11
Banned
- Joined
- May 2, 2016
- Messages
- 174
- Reaction score
- 60
- Location
- New Hampshire
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Other
I can't grasp the logic behind the concept of natural rights. I can understand it from a theological perspective, that God has endowed each human being with certain rights... but I'm an atheist, so that doesn't quite work for me. What makes sense to me is that our rights come from our laws. We granted each individual a set of rights when we formed the government. There's nothing natural about the concept, it's entirely human-made.
If justice be not a natural principle, it is no principle at all. If it be not a natural principle, there is no such thing as justice. If it be not a natural principle, all that men have ever said or written about it, from time immemorial, has been said and written about that which had no existence. If it be not a natural principle, all the appeals for justice that have ever been heard, and all the struggles for justice that have ever been witnessed, have been appeals and struggles for a mere fantasy, a vagary of the imagination, and not for a reality.
If justice be not a natural principle, then there is no such thing as injustice; and all the crimes of which the world has been the scene, have been no crimes at all; but only simple events, like the falling of the rain, or the setting of the sun; events of which the victims had no more reason to complain than they had to complain of the running of the streams, or the growth of vegetation.
If justice be not a natural principle, governments (so-called) have no more right or reason to take cognizance of it, or to pretend or profess to take cognizance of it, than they have to take cognizance, or to pretend or profess to take cognizance, of any other nonentity; and all their professions of establishing justice, or of maintaining justice, or of regarding justice, are simply the mere gibberish of fools, or the frauds of imposters.
But if justice be a natural principle, then it is necessarily an immutable one; and can no more be changed - by any power inferior to that which established it - than can the law of gravitation, the laws of light, the principles of mathematics, or any other natural law or principle whatever; and all attempts or assumptions, on the part of any man or body of men - whether calling themselves governments, or by any other name - to set up their own commands, wills, pleasure, or discretion, in the place of justice, as a rule of conduct for any human being, are as much an absurdity, an usurpation, and a tyranny, as would be their attempts to set up their own commands, wills, pleasure, or discretion in place of any and all the physical, mental, and moral laws of the universe. - Lysander Spooner
I can't grasp the logic behind the concept of natural rights. I can understand it from a theological perspective, that God has endowed each human being with certain rights... but I'm an atheist, so that doesn't quite work for me. What makes sense to me is that our rights come from our laws. We granted each individual a set of rights when we formed the government. There's nothing natural about the concept, it's entirely human-made.
I can't grasp the logic behind the concept of natural rights. I can understand it from a theological perspective, that God has endowed each human being with certain rights... but I'm an atheist, so that doesn't quite work for me. What makes sense to me is that our rights come from our laws. We granted each individual a set of rights when we formed the government. There's nothing natural about the concept, it's entirely human-made.
I can't grasp the logic behind the concept of natural rights. I can understand it from a theological perspective, that God has endowed each human being with certain rights... but I'm an atheist, so that doesn't quite work for me. What makes sense to me is that our rights come from our laws. We granted each individual a set of rights when we formed the government. There's nothing natural about the concept, it's entirely human-made.
I can't grasp the logic behind the concept of natural rights. I can understand it from a theological perspective, that God has endowed each human being with certain rights... but I'm an atheist, so that doesn't quite work for me. What makes sense to me is that our rights come from our laws. We granted each individual a set of rights when we formed the government. There's nothing natural about the concept, it's entirely human-made.
As I posted on another thread there are no natural rights especially the right to life.
Laws regarding so called "rights " are man made laws.
Government cannot protect citizens from being killed.
It can provide punishment for those who break laws.
It can declare war and put our military people in harms way.
It can draft men or women who do not want to be a part of the armed service and send them off to war.
There is no right to life.
Your user panel says you're from NH. I live in NH. I can't find enough time in the day to come up with as many questions as you do. Do you sit on your toilet and have these things occur to you or do you live in Coos County and miss moose season?
Your assertion is correct. Without God there are no natural rights, only privileges that can be granted and revoked anytime government finds it expedient.
As I posted on another thread there are no natural rights especially the right to life.
Laws regarding so called "rights " are man made laws.
Government cannot protect citizens from being killed.
It can provide punishment for those who break laws.
It can declare war and put our military people in harms way.
It can draft men or women who do not want to be a part of the armed service and send them off to war.
There is no right to life.
As I posted on another thread there are no natural rights especially the right to life.
Laws regarding so called "rights " are man made laws.
Government cannot protect citizens from being killed.
It can provide punishment for those who break laws.
It can declare war and put our military people in harms way.
It can draft men or women who do not want to be a part of the armed service and send them off to war.
There is no right to life.
as every right can be violated ( which necessarily denotes a failure to protect or defend those rights )..you must conclude that rights, in their totality, do not exist.No rights exist but those you can protect and defend.
But lets all keep in mind that there is a right to choose. Right Minnie?
You know, because having the right to control your own body wouldn't necessary imply there is a right to maintain that body. lol.
if the mother has no right to life, she simply has no right to choose.... .simple as that.
i'd also argue that if there is no right to life, then there are no rights whatsoever.... as every right necessarily hinges on being a live human.
if we have no rights, we have no need for laws or justice... as any and every act imaginable would necessarily be a legitimate act undeserving of sanction.
There is no prerequisite that natural rights come from God. In fact, the term refers to rights which are not dependent on a granting authority (other than God, if one also believes in Creation).
In his natural state man has the basic rights of life (and defense of his life), liberty (the right to exercise his own free will), and property (the right to possess and control that which he creates for himself). These rights due solely to his existence and can not be granted by other people (government). The preservation of these rights is the essence of the "social contract" and the basis for government.
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