It is irrational to think human rights are a social construct *and* must be respected
There's a cadre of atheist libertarians out there who get up in arms when governments disrespect their rights, but they themselves argue their "rights" are just something they made up
1. Rationalist ethics and natural human rights VS legalism and positivist social constucts
2. Can't they? Human rights for me but not for the thee?
3. Agnostic agnosticism for the win.
Not sure about that. The only thing owed to anyone after birth is death.
Rights are something you earn and defend.
Now Kant does seem to provide the basis on how not to be an asshole with others in his theories. And perhaps "natural rights" can be derived from there.
> Rights are something you earn and defend
How is this any different from Might Makes Right? You can't lay the foundation for tyranny and then act shocked and horrified when tyrants start to trample. In a society that teaches rights are created by a strong arm, the guy with the biggest gun will run amok
Hence the bit about Kantian morals and not being an asshole.
Also cooperation often beats strong arming people towards ones self entitled rights. It's even why cooperative strategies are amongst the best scored in iterated prisonnier's dillema.
I found this documentary a while ago and find it to push my argument quite well.
