But RexDart, why have this system of “rights” to start with? What’s it for? What’s it based on?
We’d be getting into stuff that would take me pages to explain. I have a few rough drafts started on my comprehensive philosophy, but nothing I’m willing to put up on the web just yet.
Long story short, I think those rights are part of what it takes for man to survive. It’s quite similar to some Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden essays on the topic, except that I developed my theories independently and only discovered those writers in the last couple years, so there are some differences in how I arrived there.
The American founding fathers recognized these natural-law rights as the basis of our form of government. I suppose you could sell out entirely to the John Stuart Mills of the world, but that pure utilitarian stuff doesn’t appeal to me. I like an infusion of rights theory in there. Without rights theory, man seems to become a means to an end, whereas I believe man’s liberty is an end unto itself. Man simply cannot flourish if he is constrained by utilitarian demands that he sacrifice himself continually to others.
If I wanted to give a good argument on this topic, it would take me much longer than I have time available here in this last semester of law school. I’m sorry to say it, but if you actually want a discussion in this topic, I won’t be able to provide it for awhile. This is the meat of my philosophy on life, and I couldn’t do it justice in a couple paragraphs. I drifted into that subject only because I felt a little under attack in this thread and wanted to clarify my moral position. If you want to hear an argument similar to that I would make, pop on google and find Ayn Rand’s essays “Requiem for Man” and “The Nature of Government”, where she tackles rights theory in a way much like I would.
while i don’t have much time at the moment, i must point something out.
just because your decisions are 100% selfish, and you recognize that fact, doesn’t mean you don’t care about the pleasure or pain of others. i never said nor implied that, and i’d like you to tell me where you get that simplistic assessment from.
i shall try to post again tomorrow, in an attempt to better elaborate.
Read post 59 in this very thread. I quoted the relevant statement there.
Tried and failed?