Single Idea 8031

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights]

Full Idea

It is notorious that adherents of theories about natural rights or natural laws offer lists of rights or laws which differ in substance from each other.

Gist of Idea

Fans of natural rights or laws can't agree on what the actual rights or laws are

Source

Alasdair MacIntyre (A Short History of Ethics [1967], Ch.17)

Book Reference

MacIntyre,Alasdair: 'A Short History of Ethics' [Routledge 1967], p.233


A Reaction

There seems to have been a consensus early on that self-defence was a natural right, but divergence presumably occurs when you get bolder and more complex. There is a lot of divergence over which is Shakespeare's best play.