mck@ratex.UUCP (Daniel Kian Mc Kiernan) (04/24/85)
Lines marked '>' are those of Mike Huybensz. >In a recent article, one libertarian spoke of "natural rights". > >I don't believe rights exist. A right is a claim to something under certain conditions. Any ethical system other than Ethical Nihilism can be formulated in terms of rights. You may not agree with Libertarian assertions about rights, but you cannot rationally reject both them and Ethical Nihilism. > They are coonvenient legal fictions like >corporations. Thus the search for "natural rights" is akin to the >quest for other supernatural entities (like gods.) Hardly. The search for natural rights is the search for rational codes of conduct. >We choose the legal fictions based on social goals, one of which is >non-coercion. Another common goal is social stability. That a set of goals is common does not make them desirable, and vice versa. Further, if one is going to use common desires as the guide for decision making, one must have a basis for aggregating and ranking interpersonal priorities. > There are trade- >offs between all these goals, and I have yet to see a convincing argument >for one to be placed above all others. Yet, that's precisely what you're attempting to do by aiming at aggregating and ranking interpersonal priorities. You can't have it both ways! Back later, Daniel Kian Mc Kiernan