From: Zero Powers (zero_powers@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu May 09 2002 - 00:24:08 MDT
>From: "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin@tsoft.com>
>But yes, also around the time of the American Revolution,
>people (I think!) began to speak of "Natural Rights".
Actually natural law thinking goes as far back as ancient Greece. But you
are right that the Founding Fathers were heavily influenced by the idea of
natural law. In fact they were greatly influenced by much in Greek
antiquity.
>I
>once attempted to get a thread going on this list about
>"natural rights", but failed.
If you're still interested, I'm game. Fukuyama's book _Our Posthuman
Future_ has a brief discussion of natural rights and the way in which
natural law should come into play on the question of to what extent we
should be fiddling with the essential nature of our common humanity. After
reading that book, my interest in natural law is once again piqued.
>I'm not sure, but I think
>that those things are something that some conservatives
>strongly believe in.
According to Fukuyama, conservatives tend to have the mindset that our
natures are influenced more by genetics than environment, while liberals
tend to focus more heavily on environmental conditions. But I would think
that the idea of natural law (essentially the concept that the kind of
social obligations we impose on ourselves should be based on the kinds of
creatures we are) should be as palatable to a liberal democrat (although not
a socialist or communist) as to a conservative republican.
-Zero
"I'm a seeker too. But my dreams aren't like yours. I can't help thinking
that somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man.
Has to be." -- George Taylor _Planet of the Apes_ (1968)
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