What is a “human right”?
In: 0
I feel something important has been missed. Rights are more than just needs. They represent commitment to something larger than ourselves, larger than a regime, even larger than a tribal or national identity. A commitment to the idea that people deserve to be able to live their lives in certain ways, always.
Chief among those ways is agency, or self-determination, meaning that you decide what you will do, and that decision meaningfully steers the course of your own life. That’s not unbounded for any of us, but it’s the foundation of societies that are considered free.
Importantly, in this thinking or belief, rights do not come from the government, or a constitution, or the UN. We are “endowed with them by our creator.” Whatever you believe about how we came to be, the idea is that part of that being is inherently deserving these things—life, liberty, etc.
The institutions like constitutions, bills of rights, governments, courts, jurisprudence, traditions, norms, are tools we use to protect and uphold these rights. We’re not at all perfect at it; it’s a fight with many fronts. But I believe it’s worth fighting for.
Latest Answers