Do we have "natural" rights?

Do we have a thing called "natural rights"? If so, define them. If not, why not?

 

Evolution does not allow a species to kill itself off. To kill another of their own species is almost unknown in nature.

Humans (we being so smart and all) have extended this right into other areas. But from nature, this is the driving "natural right".

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_and_legal_rights

 

yes.

you have the right to do anything and everything so long as it doesn't harm another person.

keep in mind though, "natural rights" can and often are restricted by Government.

Government can set limits on "natural rights" and can also implement legal rights.

 

I'm with technobable.

Natural rights are rights that you have unless they are infringed upon by another person. Consider the basic ones: Life - you have the right to live your life as you please and do what you choose to continue that life. Speech - you have the right to say anything you please. Property - you have the right to keep whatever you earn.

Privileges or entitlements are things you only have if given by another person. Healthcare - you can't have healthcare without doctors, nurses, hospitals, drug manufacturers, etc. Education - you can't be educated without teachers, schools, textbook writers, etc.

So the term "Natural Rights" is really just a description of what you have by the very nature of being human.

 

"Natural rights" is a philosophical concept from the enlightenment era Liberals. It's the basis for many of the ideas in the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution, not to mention the concept of "Human rights." E.g., you have rights just by being a human, naturally, regardless of government or jurisdiction.

 

If natural rights did not exist, we would have to invent them.

 

natural rights are merely the invention/construct of human society

before we human animals developed cognitive reasoning and language...they didn't technically exist.

 

I believe that the only 'natural right' that humans have is the right to their mind and all that is produced from the use of their mind.

Everything stems from that. Someone unwilling to use his or her mind in order to survive will not survive and does not deserve to.

 

The gods gave us stout hearts, keen wits, and strong arms. If we want rights, we have to take them for ourselves.

 

Not even close. There are literally pretty much countless species out there that kill another of their own.

 

Actually peaceful co-existence is far more rare in nature than killing others of the same species.

 

So you would argue that the only natural right is for a species survival?

 

Who said that we have the right to do "anything" except harm others? By what authority? In addition, what does "harm" mean? In San Francisco, for example, they made segways illegal on the grounds that it promote "laziness". So isn't this "laziness" doing "harm"?

 

But isn't property given to you by another person? Isn't the right to exist given to you by another person etc?

 

laziness doesn't do harm to others, only to yourself.

 

Indeed, so if the roots of our beginnings spring from such concepts we either understand them or destroy their work by not understanding them and going a different direction altogether. Therefore, it is all the more important to understand them.

 

You make a good point. All that we have has been given to us and/or what we fight to attain.

 

What if your a lazy parent? Isn't neglect harm? What if your a lazy doctor? Isn't that doing harm etc?

 

I'm not saying it never happens.

It is self-evident that if killing members of the same species was more common than peaceful co-existence, the species would go extinct.

Close, but not quite. The natural right is to not be killed by another of the same species. What guarantees this right is that if it was not enforced, the whole species would go extinct.

 

So to answer the question...........of course you have natural rights!

but are they what you thought?

I would bet not!

 

No. Peaceful coexistence between species is the rule in nature. What "you" think of as "your" body is actually made up of several different organisms, working in such symbiotic harmony that you haven't noticed that they aren't the same person yet. And for every organism that some organism must consume, there are many more organisms that they coexist peacefully with.

 

There are no natural rights. What you have done is take an 'is' statement i.e. that animals want to survive tend to survive better than those that don't (for obvious reasons) thus it follows that we (the product of years of evolution) have (in the vast majority of circumstances) a will to survive. This is an 'is' statement you can cannot derive the 'ought' statement that we therefore have a 'right' to survive. In fact, let me ask you; Why ought there be any ought statements?

No, as above.

 

Yes. They're in the Constitution.