Rights, part I

Encino Man, late Holocene

I think about rights a lot. What they are, where they come from, who has them, how many and what kind there are, etc. When I think about these kinds of things, I try to do it as systematically as possible, using logic and reasoning as much as I can.

I think people use the terms "logic" and "reason" without really knowing and understanding what they are. It seems to me like the term "reason" tends to mean "common sense" for a lot of people, which is unfortunate, because when I try to explain to people how I arrived at a particular conclusion and I indicate that I reasoned it out, they take that to mean it was more of a gut feeling than a walked-through conclusion.

One of the most influential and overall best classes I took as an undergrad was Intro to Logic. As a Star Trek nerd I was familiar with the word and had an idea that the study must be of some importance, but I came to learn that logic provided the closest manner possible for the deeply flawed human mind to come to conclusions as rationally and dispassionately as possible. In a nutshell, I learned that logic is the physics of reasoning, and that it came as closely as possible to providing rules for arriving at conclusions that cut out the most bias possible.

So, this is my reasoning on the subject, walking through it in a way I think is logical.

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In the beginning, there was man. Well, not the beginning beginning. At the beginning of man there was man, which is redundant, but helps me to define a starting point. I think it makes a good starting point regardless of where you think man came from. So, in the beginning there was a man, who was the first man. The first man brings no knowledge to the table. He can learn, but he hasn't developed what exactly it is he needs to learn. All he really knows is that he has the need to have shelter, sustenance, and to procreate. From Day One he will have to work to meet these needs every single day until the end of his life. He may get assistance from some other humans that spring up or from the hominids that birthed him, but the buck ultimately stops at him for meeting his needs.

In order to meet these needs on a daily basis, certain rules have to be in place. They are unspoken rules, and assuming the absence of written language, they are obviously unwritten. But there are rules nonetheless. The rules are not something he earns or qualifies for - they are too basic for that, and there's nobody around to do the judging. But these rules are so basic that, without them, the man can't continue.

The first rule is that he has the right to be alive. That rule is basically self-evident. Without the right to be alive, there's no point to anything. The first man doesn't know much, but he knows that he really likes being alive, and that being alive is the prerequisite to meeting all his other needs. Nobody has to tell him this. It's a right so obvious that even his body understands it without him having to tell it - his wounds heal, his sickness eventually goes away, and he continues living.

Once he meets other humans, he realizes that they also like to be alive. Therefore, he realizes that they would not like it if he were to go around trying to end their lives any more than he would like it if they did the same to him. He doesn't even really have to think about this, either. He assumes that they want to be alive simply due to the fact that they are still alive.

He also soon realizes that there are other humans that, for whatever reason, seek to encroach upon his right to be alive. Maybe they want to steal from him. Maybe they want less competition for women. Maybe they aren't right in the head. Whatever the reason, he discovers that, in order to protect his right to be alive and his property and possessions, he must also have the right to defend that right to be alive.

In order to exercise the right to self defense, he discovers that simply using his fists isn't sufficient, as some of the people he may have to fend off will come at him with clubs, or slings, or knives. So here comes another right - the right to have tools necessary to defend one's self.

To be continued ...