[Cephus]

Quote by: Autolykos I have an issue with saying that the only rights one has are those granted to him by "the society in which he lives". First off, there is no method of delineating societies that is inherently superior to any other. While the nation-state is typically the demarcator for "separate societies" today, there is no reason that some other method would be any less legitimate (or moreso).

You're hung up on superiority and that's irrelevant and subjective. There isn't anything that makes one society objectively better than another, they simply exist and when you live within one, you agree implicitly to follow it's dictates. If you steal something in America, you'll get treated a certain way. If you steal something in Iran, you'll probably get your hand chopped off (if they still do that there). Different places, different cultures, different rules.

Second, I think that private, or contractual, rights are certainly possible and have existed throughout history. Of course, such rights are highly context-specific. Wherever people live without government, however, contractual rights would by and large be the "rule" of the day. The rest would be taken up by morality.

I don't think it's really possible to live in a group and not have a government of sorts, that seems to be a natural way for most higher animals to live. You'll always get a leader or a set of rules or a bunch of people who make decisions or whatnot, that's why I laugh when I hear the anarchists talk, as if abolishing all the governments will make a difference. People will just change groups and reform the governments and pretty soon, you're back to the way it was.