Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on August 29, 2010 at 11:07am

where do we get our inalienable rights

Two words: social contract.

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Moore on August 30, 2010 at 1:48am

So those who believe in Buddha they don't get human rights? Or they get less rights?

They have the same inalienable Human Rights decreed by God; they just believe in a false god.

We deserve rights because no one else's rights should be above my own not even the government's

It's not about deserving Rights. We have Rights, full stop. Granted, it's a little more complicated than that — Rights don't just suddenly pop into existence out of thin air; they're emerge out of the Social Contract mentioned by Susan — but we have them without regard to deserving, or not deserving, them.

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Permalink Reply by Ivan Reyes on August 30, 2010 at 6:34am

Excellent, responses guys...I have heard about the social contract...I guess I just panicked a little...I will definitely be doing a little more reading about it. I did not like not knowing what a good answer would be so I went where I knew someone would know the answer...I like that Glenn Beck...but apparently we don't agree on everything...*sigh*

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Permalink Reply by Louis on December 6, 2010 at 11:08pm

Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau. All you'll need to know to talk about the concept of the social contract.

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Permalink Reply by Dave on August 31, 2010 at 5:27am

There would seem to be two main possibilities. One is that ‘human rights’ are somehow embedded in nature, and that they can be ‘discovered’ and explicated rather in the way that science discovers natural phenomena empirically and seeks to describe them in terms of its theoretical frameworks. The second is that the way in which we have assigned such rights to humans is basically similar to the way in which we assign a status to numerous other functions or tokens. Examples of the latter can be as varied as the assignment of monetary value to a sheet of paper such as a $50 note, or the assignment of the status of ‘married’ to a couple by a verbal declaration and an associated confirming document.

The first kind of explanation is, in my view, highly questionable. There is some possibility that what could be termed ‘moral facts’ are discernible in the behaviour of non-human primates, and it is plausible that groups of our hominid ancestors evolved something akin to moral sanctions and practices out of necessity, in order to ensure sufficient group solidarity for survival. However, any putative pathway from these hypothesised practices to modern conceptions of human rights can only be highly speculative.

So the second explanation, rights as humanly assigned through a gradual historical process, seems much more probable, and is of quite recent origin. The implication of this explanation is that they have no permanent authoritative status. They could potentially be revoked by some future human contingency which we can only conjecture. This means that, as in the case of other abstract humanly assigned values, it is up to us to defend and maintain them if we think they are worth having.

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Permalink Reply by Park Bierbower on October 4, 2010 at 1:06pm

here here, and how ironic that these things we call "human rights" are the same liberties that have been denied to the majority of humans throughout our short existance, not to mention Beck is part of a contingent that specifically aims, and who's supporters aim (directly and indirectly) to slowly strip away from people

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Permalink Reply by Louis on December 6, 2010 at 11:09pm

I think the right he was talking about was the right to mercilessly torture someone for being accused of an impossible crime.

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Permalink Reply by Dave on August 31, 2010 at 5:38am

There would seem to be two main possibilities. One is that ‘human rights’ are somehow embedded in nature, and that they can be ‘discovered’ and explicated rather in the way that science discovers natural phenomena empirically and seeks to describe them in terms of its theoretical frameworks. The second is that the way in which we have assigned such rights to humans is basically similar to the way in which we assign a status to numerous other functions or tokens. Examples of the latter can be as varied as the assignment of monetary value to a sheet of paper such as a $50 note, or the assignment of the status of ‘married’ to a couple by a verbal declaration and an associated confirming document.

The first kind of explanation is, in my view, highly questionable. There is some possibility that what could be termed ‘moral facts’ are discernible in the behaviour of non-human primates, and it is plausible that groups of our hominid ancestors evolved something akin to moral sanctions and practices out of necessity, in order to ensure sufficient group solidarity for survival. However, any putative pathway from these hypothesised practices to modern conceptions of human rights can only be highly speculative.

So the second explanation, rights as humanly assigned through a gradual historical process, seems much more probable, and is of quite recent origin. The implication of this explanation is that they have no permanent authoritative status. They could potentially be revoked by some future human contingency which we can only conjecture. This means that, as in the case of other abstract humanly assigned values, it is up to us to defend and maintain them.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Nicole on September 1, 2010 at 11:12pm

Humans are social creatures by nature. We need interaction to not only survive, but to thrive. Our babies die if there is not enough social contact, even if every biological need is met. In order for social creatures to interact, there has to be ground rules for appropriate behavior. If we did not sanction against things like murder, then the society cannot coexist, due to fear and chaos running amuck. Look at how much chaos reigned in upperclass societies that felt immune to common law. They ended up with all sorts of problems like entire family lineages being murdered.

It is social evolution. We give people these rights in order to reserve them for ourselves so that we can have the social interaction we need to thrive. In other words, rights lead to survival.

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Permalink Reply by Becky Coats on March 10, 2011 at 12:25pm

I'm with you.  As I was reading these, I was thinking about Thomas Paine (just started his bio by Christopher Hitchens) and the question of where these "Rights of Man" come from being certainly not from a god, since gods of differing societies recommend destruction of those who don't worship their "chosen, true" god.  They certainly do come from the agreements we make as we move through society in order to propel ourselves socially as well as maintain relationships intimately.  It's thought that certain animals, including humans, evolved not by the doctrine of "survival of the fittest", but by their development of cooperation and, eventually, collaborative and relational societies.  In other words, simplistically, you may be a big strong brute, but if you can't get along with others you may be ostracized and/or imprisoned and not have a chance at reproduction or social elevation.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa on September 2, 2010 at 12:15am

I think Glen Beck is a pompous ass and I wouldn't listen to damn thing that comes out of his pie hole. There are no such things as inalienable rights. What there is, is luck. If you live in a country where others fought and died to make sure that it isn't a dictatorship, you got it made in the shade. Be thankful. Otherwise, it sucks to be you.

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Permalink Reply by Ivan Reyes on September 24, 2010 at 6:17pm

Thank you everyone for responding. I enjoyed bringing some of you into this discussion. After more observation, I don't think I like that Glen Beck after all as much as I did. I think our rights do come from the social contract that if we all work together and don't hurt each other...then our tribe or group as a whole may be able to succeed. This explanation made sense to me and I would think that this is the correct answer.

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