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Quote by: Sockem  Natural right - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Can anyone prove any rights that are not granted by governments, beliefs (philosophy), or religions?
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Also John Lock defined natural rights as life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness was added by Thomas Jefferson.
Life: How much freedom of life do I have? If I killed 6 million people of a certain ethnicity; would I still have this freedom? Am I allowed Self-defense?
Liberty: Liberty from what exactly? Governments?
Property: Under all circumstances? If I stole something would I have to return it? Do I have to pay taxes?
Pursuit of Happiness: How far? Can I infringe on any other natural right?
All of these are self-contradictory and idealistic to the max. It is impossible to have these rights unabridged and not infringe on anothers' rights.
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Who do these rules apply to the individual or a government? Say, I kill someone am I violating this right or is it only bad when a government does this?
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Who grants these rights? God? But He is unproved (unprovable) etc. Or is it Nature? But Nature is inherently random.
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I see no reason to believe that anyone possess rights from the mere fact that they exist. I see no reason to belief that natural/human rights are mere subjective beliefs. |
Well, natural rights cannot be proven. Only justified. Instead of looking at these as rights, try to view them as privileges.
For example:
You are granted the privilege of life until you take someone elses away unjustifiably (e.i. self-defense/to defend one who cannot defend themself, etc.) Once you have done this, you can no longer justify your own 'right' to life for you have stripped away that of another.