ellis@chips.sri.com (Michael Ellis) (01/19/90)
> Peter Nelson > I propose, as I have all along, that the Real World is the > ultimate arbiter of all truth. Obviously, but then who here has ever argued against that precious gem of wisdom? Are you next going to start telling us that "A = A"? > And in the Real World your "right" to a piece of property is a > complex matter based on custom, law, and your immediate resources > and ability to use those resources to successfully defend your > property rights. Indeed, the low level nitty gritty of rights certainly includes all that hairy stuff, and a lot more. Accounting for what rights are in rigorous terms at the physical level may well be beyond the power of reason itself. Yet oddly enough, a child can understand property rights. Now if you prefer to see rights as sorts of customs whose future maintenance is enthusiastically endorsed by the hoi polloi, that's your trip, I suppose. Seen in that light, "natural rights" are local customs that are in the process of becoming global customs. That doesn't make them any less real, nor do I see what distinguishes them from that most sacred of all western lore -- Science. -michael