> >I always find it perplexing
> > to here people talk about "natural rights" or
> > inalienable rights. As lovely as these ideas are
> > they are in fact not at all natural. The philosophy
> > that underlies them is relatively recent and the ideas
> > themselves were radical political notions less than
> > three centuries ago. Don't get me wrong. I think the
> > notion that we grant ourselves certain basic freedoms
> > and protections is one of the great advances of human
> > culture but this is not some absolute birth right handed
> > down from god. Men invented this notion.
>
> That is one prespective. However, it is not the perspective of the founders
> of the country, or of me. Jefferson did not think that he was creating
> anything when he wrote about inalienable rights, he thought he was
> recognizing turths. Indeed, I think one of the great contributions to human
> society is the tying in of social justice with the creation of humankind in
> God's image and likeness that is found in the Torah.
>
I agree that Jefferson thought he was recognizing some basic truth and I can make no
arguement about whether this is correct or not from a religous or spiratual point of
view. I am neither a religous a spiritual person.
What I am arguing is that as a matter of history this was something new for human
societies. From the beginning of recorded history (and indirect evidence from
prehistory) humans had no afforded these sorts of rights to all humans. They did not
even afford them to most members of their own social group. To members of other social
groups they afforded no rights whatsoever. It was for most of our history perfectly
alright to kill anyone not of your own group and it was even ok within one's group
under many circumstance. I view the notion of basic human rights as an invention (like
writing and money and weapons). I think it marked a turning point in human history and
I hope that we can make it stick for everyone before it is too late. But since I don't
believe in God I see this as something that has come from within us not from without.
The notion of basic human rights is a great invention like many other it represents
the one great trick of the human brain. We can think symbolic!
!
ally. We can take one idea and t
ranslate it to other new and unique circumstances. We take the basic notion of kin and
(in social animals like humans) group loyalty and we make a leap that no other animal
can. We say "I will make all humans my kin, all are my tribesmen; I grant to all
humans that which I have formerly granted to a select few. I extend to strangers that
which I had formerly extended to those I have known all my life. I do this because it
makes me feel good (I am programmed to enjoy giving to my family and friends) and
because I recognize that we cannot survive in a world with so many people without
granting these rights.
