Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Philosophy
In reply to the discussion: Do rights exist? [View all]rrneck
(17,671 posts)11. Natural and legal rights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_and_legal_rights
The existence of natural rights has been asserted by different individuals on different premises, such as a priori philosophical reasoning or religious principles. For example, Immanuel Kant claimed to derive natural rights through reason alone. The Declaration of Independence, meanwhile, is based upon the "self-evident" truth that "all men are ... endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights".
I think a natural right, or "unalienable right", is the right to be whoever you are. Such a position leads to the question of the nature of being, which for me entails projection into the future. Ideas are useless unless they are put into action, even if the result of a thought is another thought. Inanimate objects exist, living organisms become.
Legal rights keep you from being a dick.
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
52 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
I'd say it depends very much on which school of ethics you subscribe to.
Fortinbras Armstrong
Aug 2013
#8
"Whether you know it or not, among the French and Germans, right means law."
Fortinbras Armstrong
Nov 2014
#33
I used an idiom that I'm sure you've heard at least a thousand times
Fortinbras Armstrong
Dec 2014
#44
re: "...the right for an individual to be treated equally under the rule of law."
discntnt_irny_srcsm
Sep 2013
#19