I stand by "rights talk is madness", but Glen may .... MAY .... have taken
it a bit too far for me.
Quine said something like, "if we had to reason our way to good behavior,
the human race would have died long ago." Empathy and caregiving are as
natural to human beings as lust.
So, while talking about "my rights" or "your obligations" is nutty,
talking about "my obligations" makes sense to me. In any case, it should
be obvious that, in the absense of somebody who feels an obligation, having
a right is worthless.
One other point: "Ideology and illusion"are real things and one has to plan for them in any political philosophy. So is "madness" for that matter.
nick
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,
> [Original Message]
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group ">
<[hidden email]>
> Date: 2/15/2010 9:33:17 AM
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Health care [was Sources of Innovation]
>
> Glen
> says "disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous
> acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind". A right isn't a
> natural consequence... but then I think you jest.
> Thanks
> Robert
>
> On 2/15/10 8:32 AM, glen e. p. ropella wrote:
> > Thus spake Nicholas Thompson circa 02/14/2010 10:49 AM:
> >
> >> Rights talk is madness.
> >>
> > That's the most true sentence I've seen on this mailing list. [grin]
> > Nobody has a right to anything. Some of us are lucky enough to be in
> > the right social classes to take advantage of particular legal systems;
> > but that's the whole extent of it. If there are any rights at all, they
> > are those provided by our biology.
> >
> > E.g. I have the right to be hungry when I don't eat. I have the right
> > to be euphoric when I hunt. I have the right to pain and death in the
> > freezing dawn in my cardboard shanty under the bridge.
> >
> > Everything else is ideology and illusion. Luckily, there are those of
> > us who are crafty enough to exploit the gullibility of those around us
> > so that our rights seem more real than theirs.
> >
> >
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College