IANAlicorn, but, since I have the same belief, I’ll give it a shot. My imperfect introspection tells me that, since the world where people don’t have rights would quickly become unfair and full of suffering (and this has been repeatedly experimentally tested), I want to live in a world where I, my family or someone I can identify with would have less of a chance of being treated unfairly and made to suffer needlessly. Pretending that people have “unalienable rights” goes a long way toward that goal, so I want to believe it and I want everyone else to believe it, too. To dig deeper, I am forced to examine the sources for my desire for fairness and the origins of my empathy (imperfect though it is), and the available literature points to the mix of genetics and upbringing.
I want to live in a world where I, my family or someone I can identify with would have less of a chance of being treated unfairly and made to suffer needlessly. Pretending that people have “unalienable rights” goes a long way toward that goal, so I want to believe it and I want everyone else to believe it, too.
That sounds like rule utilitarianism, or a rule utilitarianism-like consequentialism, not like a deontological justification for human rights.
I suppose you are right. However, if you skip the introspection part, “people have rights” makes sense in most cases without having to worry about utilities. It’s the edge cases, like the trolley problem, which require deeper analysis.
A decent justification, but not very deontological. What I was curious about is how Alicorn determines what rights exist purely deontologically, without reference to consequences.
IANAlicorn, but, since I have the same belief, I’ll give it a shot. My imperfect introspection tells me that, since the world where people don’t have rights would quickly become unfair and full of suffering (and this has been repeatedly experimentally tested), I want to live in a world where I, my family or someone I can identify with would have less of a chance of being treated unfairly and made to suffer needlessly. Pretending that people have “unalienable rights” goes a long way toward that goal, so I want to believe it and I want everyone else to believe it, too. To dig deeper, I am forced to examine the sources for my desire for fairness and the origins of my empathy (imperfect though it is), and the available literature points to the mix of genetics and upbringing.
That sounds like rule utilitarianism, or a rule utilitarianism-like consequentialism, not like a deontological justification for human rights.
I suppose you are right. However, if you skip the introspection part, “people have rights” makes sense in most cases without having to worry about utilities. It’s the edge cases, like the trolley problem, which require deeper analysis.
I agree, but that’s all basically consequentialist.
A decent justification, but not very deontological. What I was curious about is how Alicorn determines what rights exist purely deontologically, without reference to consequences.