Human Rights

The term "human rights" is used here in its broadest sense and we expect to eventually discuss all aspects of so-called rights, both positive and negative and to address issues of morality, moral development, and the evolutionary origins of morality. Robert Wright's The Moral Animal will be reviewed and compared to others of that genre.

What are human rights? What is the origin of human rights? Some argue that rights come from a divine being (God given rights), others opt for natural rights, presumably a subset of natural law. A 1995 survey done by Skeptic magazine of its subscribers (a rather highly educated group) found that 60% believe that human rights were a social construct, 22% believed that were derived from natural rights, while only 5% believed they were "God given." I suspect that these percentages would vary greatly in different parts of the country and with political orientation. Those in the "bible belt" relate more to "God given," while many types of mildly religious conservatives and libertarians seem to argue for natural rights. Robert Anton Wilson, while a libertarian, clearly fits into the social construct group. He writes

Natural Law metaphysics can accurately be described as a verbal construct that, like a hypnotists commands, creates a trance state in which experience is edited out and the verbally-induced hypnotic revery becomes more "real" than sensory-sensual stimuli. Natural Law appears to be a map that does not correspond to any real territory, but like other Idols it becomes almost "real" when the worshipper stares at it long enough with passionate adoration.

On the other hand, the well known libertarian Murray Rothbard was a firm proponent of natural law and natural rights.

The concept of equality is tied closely to human rights in the minds of many people. Few terms are so often used, yet so little reflected on as the word equality. Award winning philosopher Louis Pojman here investigates the subject in his recent paper "Theories of Equality: A Critical Analysis." A related topic is tolerance which Jim Kalb masterfully dissects in his short article "Liberal Tolerance."

Let's take a look at religion and the origins of our Judeo-Christian tradition which influences so much of our current moral climate and our concepts of rights. About twenty-five -thirty years ago, Lawrence Brown wrote The Might of The West. I was influenced at the time by his view of the origins of Christianity as a religion designed for the immediacy of the last days. Since then other scholars have addressed this issue as well. Perhaps none so forcefully and worthy of being placed here as a stalker of taboos than John Hartung. Professor Hartung's groundbreaking 1995 essay, "Love Thy Neighbor, The Evolution of In-Group Morality," appeared in Skeptic magazine and elicited a substantial response. This was followed shortly by his review in Ethology and Sociobiology of Kevin MacDonald's masterful work, A People That Shall Dwell Alone: Judaism as a Group Evolutionary Strategy (Praeger, 1994). The uproar over this review and the ensuing controversy with the publisher, Elsevier, made the pages of Science, July 12, 1996. Briefly, professor Hartung was accused of anti-Semitism though his exposition was certainly as anti-Christian as anything else. At the request of the journal editor he submitted an addendum to the review for publication. Elsevier refused to publish, calling it anti-Semitic. Perhaps that type of response comes with the territory when one attempts a rational investigation of things held sacred by some. That, of course, is exactly the purpose of this website: to rationally look into things some hold beyond investigation.

What about that other great world religion that drives so many passions - Islam? Professor Antony Flew, the most influential atheist philosopher of the current era, addresses how Islam fits into moral world and how it addresses human rights in his recent essay The Terror of Islam.

Another warrior in the search for reason surrounding rights is Raymond B. Cattell. Not content with having revolutionized differential psychology in his early years, he has more recently taken to developing a religion based on his view of science. His first published attempt, the very technical A New Morality from Science: Beyondism was published in 1972. In 1987, at the age of 82, he published Beyondism: Religion from Science. This far less technical work ended with A Concise Catechism of Beyondism, which we have reproduced for your thought and enjoyment.

Other areas often associated with rights are population quality/quantity problems and world peace. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, outlined a brief program for world peace in 1932. Sanger was a socialist and while many of her current supporters are still somewhat on the left, it's doubtful that many of them would support A Plan for World Peace. In fact, many of them would condemn it as genocidal and a threat to freedoms everywhere. How things change!