Do You Own a Gun?

[piercehawkeye45]

The idea of rights are created by humans. Without humans there would be no idea of rights just like there would be no such thing as freedom. Both are man-made concepts that mean nothing in the bigger picture. Why? Because natural rights and freedom are abstract concepts.

If you take away gravity, the entire universe would fall apart. If take way natural rights, nothing will change except in the human world.

Radar, a lot of things will cross the gray zone because almost everything will affect someone else. Do I have the right to use electricity because it creates pollution that will kill people with respitory problems? Do I have the right to make as much money as possible even though that may keep other people in poverty and they may die because of that? Do animals have natural rights since we are all animals and we are no more evolved then anything else, but just took a different path?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Humans didn't invent natural rights, they only described them. The cave men with no written language and limited ability to convey complex thought, still had rights, even though they couldn't conceptualize them.

[Radar]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

The idea of rights are created by humans. Without humans there would be no idea of rights just like there would be no such thing as freedom. Both are man-made concepts that mean nothing in the bigger picture. Why? Because natural rights and freedom are abstract concepts.

If you take away gravity, the entire universe would fall apart. If take way natural rights, nothing will change except in the human world.

Radar, a lot of things will cross the gray zone because almost everything will affect someone else. Do I have the right to use electricity because it creates pollution that will kill people with respitory problems? Do I have the right to make as much money as possible even though that may keep other people in poverty and they may die because of that? Do animals have natural rights since we are all animals and we are no more evolved then anything else, but just took a different path?

1. Humans didn't invent rights. They always existed, and humans merely discovered them in much the same way they discovered gravity. Rights are not "abstract concepts" or an idea. They are a tangible reality.

2. The human world is the world we live in. One could easily argue that without humans the universe would cease to exist entirely. It's the old tree falling with nobody around to hear it thing. If nobody existed with the cognitive ability to comprehend the universe, would it even exist? Without any humans alive on earth, there would still be human rights. There just wouldn't be any humans to exercise them.

3. I didn't say we can't do things that "effect" other people, I said we can't do things that violate the person, property, or rights of non-consenting others.

4. Creating electricity does not necessarily create pollution or respiratory problems in others. You don't have the right to pollute because it is a trespass onto the property of others.

5. Your making of wealth does nothing to keep others poor or cause them to die.

6. Humans alone have natural human rights. We are above all other creatures due to our higher level of sentience, and our ability to reason and to think outside of ourselves.