Where Rights Come From

[BikerBry]

Naw, Rights are simpler than this. The founding Fathers were pretty good at explaining where rights came from and what they are. The Decoration of Independence states that our rights come from our creator. So, anything your creator gave you that you do, say, think is basically a right. Laws are there to infringe, restrict and take away certain rights. The Constitution was written so that many of these rights were protected FROM the government. No rights come from a piece of paper or another man

[brainpolice2]

That is a straw man, Todd. To ansswer it requires us to get into the nitty gritty of homesteading. No, you can't just claim ownership of an entire island if you don't actually use or homestead that entire island.

[DrTodd13]

Government cannot "take away your rights." They can only habitually infringe upon them.

This "I claim my rights" position is a slippery slope. If I don't say I own myself then can I be enslaved? If I can talk really fast and say I have a right to control everyone and everything on the island first, do I?

[lordmetroid]

I want to adress there is no rights. I don't think their are any default rights anyone have. We claim our own rights through interaction with people.

As you have noticed there are such a wide spread beliefe in what rights someone has there can not be any rights. Though I hold true that life, property and pursuit of happiness are among the spontaneous rights that will form naturally in society without people claiming such right as a result of 'game theory'.

[Franc28]

No, rights are not the result of society. I proved that with the desert island scenario.

[lordmetroid]

Maybe it sounded like I think rights is a result of society. But I really did not mean to try to imply that. I mean that people take their rights based on actions they perform. You take your right to control your body even on a desert island by your actions. And if their are more people on the island you would inform that that you have claimed the right to control your body if they thought otherwise.

[Franc28]

Yes, I agree.

[Jeremias1111]

Could you add your suggestion from the beginning of the video to the video description? I have problems to figure out the surname of that Steven. Thank you.

[Franc28]

Oh okay,

[brainpolice2]

It's the disease of positivism that has lead to the idea that rights are special privileges given to us by governmentas rather than something that we possess by the virtue of being human beings to begin with. It has lead to the idea that law and property were invented by government, but an honest analysis reveals those things to precede it and are capable of naturally arising from voluntary choices.

[Franc28]

I don't know if I would agree with the positivism part of your comment, but I agree with the substance of it. I would object to the use of the term "law," but that's a matter for a future video.

[brainpolice2]

I was refering to legal positivism, to be clear. But I agree with the sentiment here: you cannot be given a right to self-ownership externally, you already are a self-owner, and you cannot be given a right to property externally, you already have a right to that property which you homesteaded or voluntarily exchanged for.

[kimochinews]

Good points. I was hoping to have you comment on the causal origin of rights over time: when did I become a moral agent, and why? Your argument that we need rights in order to survive can also be applied to animals, for which we do not allocate the same rights as we do for humans.

I agree that the idea that the government creates (or protects) rights is misguided.

[Franc28]

I should have clarified what I said a little better. I am not saying that rights are caused by the fact that I need rights. My point with the desert island scenario is that we necessarily acknowledge our own rights in order to survive, and that our rights can be maintained without the existence of society or government. The estoppel argument proves that rights are a necessary fact when moral agents enter the picture. The existence of society and government only makes this necessity explicit.