Subject:
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Re: Did animals have rights before we invented rights?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 2 Jul 2001 12:11:14 GMT
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Viewed:
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585 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Ross Crawford writes:
> > How dependent on mutualism do we want to say that rights are? The 'right' • that
> > I cite for the cock of the walk isn't a mutually applicable right, it is a
> > privilege that they all happen to agree on. And it's based mostly on the • fact
> > that that chicken will kill whoever disagrees. That makes it sound
> > substantially different than our notion of rights.
>
> But you could argue that rights we've given to ourselves are just privileges
> that we all happen to agree on. Based mostly on the fact that we'll sue • whoever
> disagrees. 8?)
Your emoticon implies that you're kidding. I'm not. I think your statement
cuts right to the hear of what our rights actually are. But the difference I
was pointing to is that we don't invest rights in certain classes of people and
not others. Except when we do. But at least we pretend that we don't.
> > And how does interspecies (or even intercultural) understanding and respect
> > affect rights? Do rights mean anything between species? If not, how and why
> > is it different for the cross-cultural divides?
>
> I think "rights" has no real meaning or usefulness between species - it makes
> no more sense for me to talk about the cock's right to scratch where it wants
> than for the cock to crow about the bee's right to eat pollen. I think rights
> only make sense within species. Cocks may not call them rights, but they exist
> nonetheless.
>
> Not sure about cultures, though humans seem to be heading towards more common
> rights across cultures (albeit slowly).
I agree that one primary global culture is the inevitable outcome of rapid
global communications and media. And I suspect in fifty years the world will
be a very different place. But there will be some hold outs. Pockets of
people with non standard cultural mores. What will we say about their rights?
Chris
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