Further to the discussion initiated by Swarr Amanda Lock, I think
that when we talk about 'rights', we also have to consider duties.
This is because, if I have a right to something, at least one other
person (and possibly as many people as there people on the planet)
have a duty towards me. Thus, to say that I have a right to life
implies that others have a duty not to take my life and, it can also
be argued, a duty to protect my life.
While this behaviour and actions which are necessary for me to carry
out this duty are relatively easy to determine when I am close to
the subject to whom I owe this duty (e.g. driving carefully in built
up areas, availing myself of available medical services when my
children are ill and so on), it becomes much more difficult at a
distance or when non-humans are involved. (The issues are also
complicated by those who would claim 'rights' to what are, in the
grand scheme of things, trivial. I have, for example, heard people
talk of having the 'right to a television'. The question to be asked
here is, who has the responsibility to provide the television. If a
collectivity (such as the state) decides that certain categories of
person, e.g. the old, should have a television, then an old person
will have a claim of right against the state, but these rights are
different from the 'right to life' type of right.)
I have much more difficulty in determining my 'duties' regarding the
right to life of those living outside my immediate family,
neighbourhood, region, society or whatever. For example, if humans
have a right to life (and I believe unequivocably that they do), what
actions should I take in my everyday life to as a result of the
duties that right imposes upon me regarding, for example, those
starving in the Third World or those being killed by repressive
regimes? (As a sub-question, can the state take away that right to
life by passing legislation imposing the death sentence. Personally,
I think not.) Are there any limits to the duties to which I am
subject? (If there are not, am I obliged to place myself in penury to
assist those in greater need.?.) Can I pass those duties on to the
state as the greater collectivity and then not do anything myself?
The questions are endless and yet they stem from a relatively simple
question - what duties and behaviour stem from the existence of a
right to life?
Finally (and I have already taken too much of everyone's limited
disc-space), I find the greatest difficulties arise when we try to
determine the duties associated with the rights of animals and, as
some would assert, the rights of other entities (both sentient and
non-sentient). The question asked above become even more
difficult to answer as issues of priority arise, e.g. in the choice
between a human life and an animal life, which do I count as more
important? Is the survival of a species of non-human life worth the
life of a single human being?...or two human beings...or how many?
I trust that these questions do not cover ground already addressed
prior to me joining the group, but I believe that they need to be
considered when talking of rights.
Alistair McCulloch
'Why does a student go to school of policy? It cannot be because
(s)he thinks everything is wonderful just the way it is: if so, (s)he
would go to a school of business.' A Wildavsky, Speaking Truth to
Power: The Art and Craft of Policy Analysis, 1987, p. xxxiii.
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From: Carol Meeds WPB 407-433-2650 x 113 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: Hmmmmm...
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Hi Joy -
I was really thrilled when I saw that it was your name at the
bottom of that great posting. In the past, your words to me
souunded harsh. Now I see that with your strength of conviction
you also have an incredible strength of love. Thank you for your
careful words.
Carol Meeds
Jupiter, Florida
