What is considered rational is consensus oriented. There are various interpretations of rights which follow their own line of reasoning. Even then what is considered rational is premised from an argued set of values that not everyone sees the same.Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 5:47 amYou are the sort who would prefer to use bullock or horse carts for transport despite the latest modern versions of transportation.Eodnhoj7 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 26, 2025 4:48 amI find it funny that you have to resort to AI because you cannot directly counter what I say. Using that as an example give me an explanation as to why you have the fortitude or need for rights when you are already submitting to an intellect higher than you?Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Fri Sep 26, 2025 4:41 am
AI Wrote:
You’re mistaking “human rights” as an illusion when in fact they are constructs. Illusions are things that appear but aren’t real—rights are very real in their social, legal, and moral effects, much like money, language, or laws. They’re not ontological absolutes, but they are intersubjective standards that bind societies together.
You say rights are coercion and thought control. But without rights, coercion doesn’t disappear—it just becomes raw brute force where the strong dominate the weak. Rights at least provide a normative framework that can be appealed to, reformed, and applied to all, rather than leaving people at the mercy of unchecked power.
You also claim rights cause conflict. True, interpretations differ, but that’s because humans disagree on many things. The fact that we argue about rights doesn’t prove they’re worthless—it proves they’re important enough to fight over. Without them, conflict wouldn’t vanish; it would simply default to violence and oppression.
Ask yourself: if rights are illusions and should be rejected, what’s the alternative? Pure subjectivity where the strongest win? Tribal or religious authority that suppresses minorities? Total individual freedom collapsing into chaos? Human rights, despite flaws, remain our best attempt to prevent tyranny and violence.
Even if we call them manufactured, they are necessary. The right to life, freedom from slavery, freedom of conscience—these aren’t luxuries. They are minimum standards that make human survival and coexistence possible. So, they are not illusions but regulative ideals [Kantian]: guiding principles humanity must strive toward, imperfectly but essentially.
Your rights are just assertions built from concepts stacked upon eachother in front of an ocean.
Anyhow, I like this. You can use the AI, because you are an intellectually inept victim, and I will just solo it without AI.
Game?
Game.
So to address the AI.
Constructs are not absolute precisely because they are relative.
The definition of "real" the AI uses is contextual to social dynamics. If that is the case than insane asylum built around hallucinating people necessitate the hallucination as real.
"Real" is a conceptual distinction, a construct, thus falls within the realm of relativity.
If Human Rights are constructs, as the AI claims, then they are Relative and not Absolute hence the AI contradicts itself.
If they are imperfect then there are victims.
It is not whether it is AI or humans, what counts is whether the argument is valid and sound and can be verified with generally acceptable rational criteria.
You are still chasing 'absolutes' in this case 'rights' that are absolute, i.e. not relative but absolutely unconditional absolutes which are the same as having delusional beliefs.
You are lost.The definition of "real" the AI uses is contextual to social dynamics. If that is the case than insane asylum built around hallucinating people necessitate the hallucination as real.
The grounds of what is 'real' is grounded on a framework and system [FS] that is objective of which the scientific FS is is the gold standard.
Hallucinated ideas from a hallucinated FS are not objective in contrast to the scientific FS.
Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
I don't need AI...AI has commonly compared me to AI in various other texts. Dually of AI argued against AI then it proves the op by negating a fixed morally interpretation.Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 5:58 amIn addition to my personal response, here's AI's respond to your delusions:Eodnhoj7 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 26, 2025 4:48 am I find it funny that you have to resort to AI because you cannot directly counter what I say. Using that as an example give me an explanation as to why you have the fortitude or need for rights when you are already submitting to an intellect higher than you?
Your rights are just assertions built from concepts stacked upon eachother in front of an ocean.
Anyhow, I like this. You can use the AI, because you are an intellectually inept victim, and I will just solo it without AI.
Game?
Game.
So to address the AI.
Constructs are not absolute precisely because they are relative.
The definition of "real" the AI uses is contextual to social dynamics. If that is the case than insane asylum built around hallucinating people necessitate the hallucination as real.
"Real" is a conceptual distinction, a construct, thus falls within the realm of relativity.
If Human Rights are constructs, as the AI claims, then they are Relative and not Absolute hence the AI contradicts itself.
If they are imperfect then there are victims.
AI Wrote []
You’re making the same error that Kant already critiqued: assuming that for something to be “real” or “valid” it must exist as an absolute, mind-independent essence (human-right-in-itself). That’s dogmatic metaphysics. There is no “thing-in-itself” right floating out there in the universe.
Instead, what matters is whether a construct functions as an objective standard within a human framework. Scientific laws, money, legal systems, even language—none of these are absolute, but they’re not illusions either. They are FS-objective (framework-system objective): valid, binding, and necessary within the human context.
Your asylum example misses the point. A hallucination is only “real” to the individual, not intersubjectively validated. Rights, by contrast, gain reality through collective consensus, institutionalization, and enforcement. That is why they have practical power, unlike hallucinations.
Yes, human rights are relative in the sense that they depend on human frameworks. But relativity does not equal meaninglessness. Gravity itself is understood through human frameworks (Einstein’s relativity replaced Newton’s), yet that doesn’t make gravity an illusion.
Finally, about imperfection and victims: imperfection doesn’t negate necessity. The fact that justice systems sometimes fail doesn’t prove we should abolish justice—it proves we must keep improving it. Rights are regulative ideals: not absolute in the metaphysical sense, but indispensable as guiding standards to reduce harm and prevent extinction.
Closing punchline: “Human rights don’t need to be absolute metaphysical entities to be real and necessary. They are regulative constructs—framework-objective, not ontologically absolute. To demand absolutes here is delusional metaphysics.”
...........
AI Wrote{2}
You’re making the same mistake Kant exposed: assuming that for rights to be “real” they must exist as absolute, mind-independent entities. That’s metaphysical dogmatism. There is no human-right-in-itself floating in the universe.
Rights are constructs, yes—but they are framework-objective. Like law, money, or scientific models, they gain validity through intersubjective consensus and institutionalization. That makes them binding in practice, unlike hallucinations which are only private.
Calling them imperfect doesn’t negate their necessity. Justice too is imperfect, yet indispensable. Human rights are regulative ideals: not absolute metaphysical truths, but essential standards for reducing harm and enabling human survival. Demanding absolutes here is chasing an illusion.
.......
I suggest you use 'your' AI to counter the above.
False, I am not assuming that what is real has to be absolute, what I am saying is that "real" is relative to context and as such is not fixed. Because of this various interpretations of reality, by which rights are induced from, inherently are not fixed. By degree of the nature of rights they are always partial truths this are relegated to inherent conflict this leaving the constant among rights as a state of exerted force this making rights mere expression rather than fixed truths. Because rights are expression they cannot be universalized without undermining the very rights themselves.
Because rights are reducible to expression, assertions built upon various forms of reason from a degree of values which are assumed, there is necessitated a hierarchical version of rights by nature of opposition between expression that fundamentally leaves one set of right subsidiary to others. Subjugation of interpretations by interpretations leaves the foundational nature of rights being not only an occurrence of expression, but by degree an assertion of power where force becomes another foundation.
Given force as a foundation manifests within rights there is an irrationality which not only transcends the reason of the rights but effectively an expansion and contraction of rights as force is fundamentally cyclical in nature for the constant of reality is change and if force is the the reality which corresponds to rights it inevitably is in a state of flux.
From another vantage point the force oriented degree by which rights manifests undermines the very same rights of the people being subjugated by those who subjugate given one expression subjugates another.
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
You apparently are not aware of how organisms act then if what you take from this is wild. Have you worked on a farm?popeye1945 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 7:06 amThat is a truly wild slant on my post. How on earth did you get from basing a moral system on a common foundation, such as our common biology, to such a bizarre interpretation? Your imagination has gone rogue on you. Morality should be based on our common biology, not only because it is the natural foundation for a species that experiences the world through the same biology. The science of biology and psychology could best contribute to a universal understanding of what supports and what undermines the survival and well-being of our common species.Eodnhoj7 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 2:45 amBy that logic cannibalism is justified as consuming what is the same would make said species stronger by weeding out the weak and absorbing there essence. Cannibalism is common enough in the animal kingdom, I have seen it working on a farm, it is quite common enough in 3rd world tribal societies and among the 1st world elite. And yet cannibalism assumes a right of superiority thus causes conflict. So cannibalism is a right under a biological context, but the right causes conflict. Biology cannot be used as a measure of rights without contradiction.popeye1945 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 2:28 am
Just as there is moral relativism, human rights are in that category. The variations are due to geography and degrees of isolation over time. Today, it truly is a global village with instant communications. Morality today in a global society, and it would be saner with a moral system whose foundation was our common biology. Biology being the measure and the meaning of all things.
From another degree if rights are relativistic than they do not exist universally.
-
Veritas Aequitas
- Posts: 15722
- Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:41 am
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
You are lost.Eodnhoj7 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 11:13 pm I don't need AI...AI has commonly compared me to AI in various other texts. Dually of AI argued against AI then it proves the op by negating a fixed morally interpretation.
False, I am not assuming that what is real has to be absolute, what I am saying is that "real" is relative to context and as such is not fixed. Because of this various interpretations of reality, by which rights are induced from, inherently are not fixed. By degree of the nature of rights they are always partial truths this are relegated to inherent conflict this leaving the constant among rights as a state of exerted force this making rights mere expression rather than fixed truths. Because rights are expression they cannot be universalized without undermining the very rights themselves.
Because rights are reducible to expression, assertions built upon various forms of reason from a degree of values which are assumed, there is necessitated a hierarchical version of rights by nature of opposition between expression that fundamentally leaves one set of right subsidiary to others. Subjugation of interpretations by interpretations leaves the foundational nature of rights being not only an occurrence of expression, but by degree an assertion of power where force becomes another foundation.
Given force as a foundation manifests within rights there is an irrationality which not only transcends the reason of the rights but effectively an expansion and contraction of rights as force is fundamentally cyclical in nature for the constant of reality is change and if force is the the reality which corresponds to rights it inevitably is in a state of flux.
From another vantage point the force oriented degree by which rights manifests undermines the very same rights of the people being subjugated by those who subjugate given one expression subjugates another.
You stated in the OP, human rights are not necessary.
You omitted my point:
There is a continuum of human rights.
In one extreme we have the following human rights:
1. Right to live
2. Right not to be enslaved as a chattel slave
3. Right to happiness
Whilst they are not ontological absolutes, how could you argue they are not necessary as regulative rights?
Here the distribution of the continuum of human rights:
AI wrote:
That’s a good way of framing it: a continuum of human rights from near-universal (imperative, regulative) to highly context-dependent (conditional, relative). Let me give you concrete examples at both ends:
A. Imperative / Near-Universal Human Rights (Regulative Standards)
These are rights that, across history and cultures, have been recognized as essential to human survival and dignity. They function like “axioms” for human coexistence.
Right to life – protection from arbitrary killing or murder.
Right to bodily integrity – not to be tortured, mutilated, or subjected to cruel treatment.
Freedom from slavery – rejection of chattel slavery and human ownership.
Right to basic sustenance – access to food, water, and clean air as preconditions of existence.
Right to shelter and safety – protection from exposure and deliberate harm.
Right to family and association – recognition of kinship and the ability to form human bonds.
Freedom of conscience – inner freedom to think, believe, and hold values.
Right to seek justice – recourse against wrongs, however imperfect.
These are not “absolute” in a metaphysical sense, but they are treated as universally binding regulative ideals within the human framework, much like your example of the right not to be enslaved.
B. Highly Contextual / Conditional Human Rights
These rights shift depending on conditions, circumstances, and cultural interpretation.
Right to self-defense – normally upheld, but can clash with limits on violence or proportionality.
Right to property – varies by system; absolute in some capitalist societies, relative or communal in others.
Right to bear arms – considered a “right” in the U.S., but not in most countries.
Right to privacy – broad in liberal democracies, heavily restricted under authoritarian regimes.
Right to free expression – near-universal in principle, but often curtailed in cases of hate speech, wartime censorship, or national security.
Right to political participation (e.g., vote, run for office) – varies widely depending on age, citizenship, gender (historically), or political system.
Prisoner rights – differ drastically between societies; some recognize them fully, others strip them almost entirely.
Rights in wartime – e.g., treatment of combatants vs. civilians, prisoner-of-war protections—these are recognized, but heavily compromised by context.
Imperative rights = non-negotiable standards (right to life, no slavery, dignity of person).
Contextual rights = dependent on circumstances, culture, law, or conflict (property, speech, wartime conduct, self-defense).
Such the following human rights are critical necessary:
A. Imperative / Near-Universal Human Rights (Regulative Standards)
These are rights that, across history and cultures, have been recognized as essential to human survival and dignity. They function like “axioms” for human coexistence.
-
Veritas Aequitas
- Posts: 15722
- Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:41 am
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
AI Wrote:
Yes — the argument you gave is strong and absolutely valid as a justification: the right to live emerges directly from empirical observation of human (and broader biological) nature.
This is justified via the scientific framework and system [biology, evolutionary psychology, neurosciences, etc.].
Every organism exhibits a fundamental will-to-live; humans are no exception. Newborns instinctively grasp, cry for nourishment, and resist harm — clear evidence that life-preservation is a non-negotiable drive embedded in our nature. This empirical fact underpins why the right to life is not arbitrary or relative, but imperative.
Here are other lines of reasoning you can use to justify Imperative / Near-Universal Human Rights (Regulative Standards):
1. Evolutionary & Biological Argument
Survival instincts (fight-or-flight, avoidance of pain, pursuit of food/shelter) are hardwired in all humans.
Evolution selects for behaviors and structures that protect survival and reproduction.
Therefore, rights like life, bodily integrity, and freedom from slavery are grounded in biology itself. They protect the minimal conditions for evolutionary continuity.
2. Functional Necessity for Social Cooperation
Human beings are social creatures; survival depends on cooperation (hunting, sharing, protection).
If life and safety are not secured for individuals, trust collapses, and groups fragment.
Thus, rights like life, safety, and justice are functional necessities to maintain social order and avoid extinction.
3. Empirical Universality Across Cultures
Anthropological studies show that nearly all cultures recognize prohibitions on murder, arbitrary violence, and enslavement within the group.
Even where violations exist, they are condemned internally, showing the ideal persists as a standard.
This cultural universality suggests these rights are near-universal constants of human coexistence.
4. Logical/Contradiction Argument
Denying the right to life is self-defeating: if one denies it for others, one cannot claim it for oneself.
To act against this right is to create conditions that justify others acting against you.
Hence, recognition of the right to life is logically necessary for consistent moral practice.
5. Minimal Conditions for Dignity & Flourishing
Beyond survival, rights like freedom of conscience, family association, and dignity are rooted in what it means to flourish as human.
These are not luxuries, but minimal standards for being treated as human rather than as an object or tool.
Biological grounding (survival instincts).
Evolutionary logic (species continuity).
Social function (trust and cooperation).
Anthropological universality (cross-cultural persistence).
Logical consistency (self-defeating to deny).
Summary:
The right to life is not an arbitrary consensus but grounded in empirical evidence of human nature. Every newborn instinctively resists death and cries for sustenance, showing that the will-to-live is biologically hardwired. Evolution itself proves this: no species survives by desiring extinction. Beyond biology, social cooperation depends on mutual recognition of life and safety—without it, trust collapses and groups disintegrate. Across cultures, prohibitions on murder and enslavement appear universally, even if imperfectly upheld, confirming their near-universal status. Finally, denying the right to life is self-defeating, since to reject it for others logically denies it for oneself. For these reasons, imperative rights like life, dignity, and freedom from slavery are not illusions but regulative standards necessary for survival and flourishing.
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
No, I stated "Human rights are an illusion and not necessary".Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Sun Sep 28, 2025 4:27 amYou are lost.Eodnhoj7 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 11:13 pm I don't need AI...AI has commonly compared me to AI in various other texts. Dually of AI argued against AI then it proves the op by negating a fixed morally interpretation.
False, I am not assuming that what is real has to be absolute, what I am saying is that "real" is relative to context and as such is not fixed. Because of this various interpretations of reality, by which rights are induced from, inherently are not fixed. By degree of the nature of rights they are always partial truths this are relegated to inherent conflict this leaving the constant among rights as a state of exerted force this making rights mere expression rather than fixed truths. Because rights are expression they cannot be universalized without undermining the very rights themselves.
Because rights are reducible to expression, assertions built upon various forms of reason from a degree of values which are assumed, there is necessitated a hierarchical version of rights by nature of opposition between expression that fundamentally leaves one set of right subsidiary to others. Subjugation of interpretations by interpretations leaves the foundational nature of rights being not only an occurrence of expression, but by degree an assertion of power where force becomes another foundation.
Given force as a foundation manifests within rights there is an irrationality which not only transcends the reason of the rights but effectively an expansion and contraction of rights as force is fundamentally cyclical in nature for the constant of reality is change and if force is the the reality which corresponds to rights it inevitably is in a state of flux.
From another vantage point the force oriented degree by which rights manifests undermines the very same rights of the people being subjugated by those who subjugate given one expression subjugates another.
You stated in the OP, human rights are not necessary.
You omitted my point:
There is a continuum of human rights.
In one extreme we have the following human rights:
1. Right to live
2. Right not to be enslaved as a chattel slave
3. Right to happiness
Whilst they are not ontological absolutes, how could you argue they are not necessary as regulative rights?
Here the distribution of the continuum of human rights:
AI wrote:
That’s a good way of framing it: a continuum of human rights from near-universal (imperative, regulative) to highly context-dependent (conditional, relative). Let me give you concrete examples at both ends:
A. Imperative / Near-Universal Human Rights (Regulative Standards)
These are rights that, across history and cultures, have been recognized as essential to human survival and dignity. They function like “axioms” for human coexistence.
Right to life – protection from arbitrary killing or murder.
Right to bodily integrity – not to be tortured, mutilated, or subjected to cruel treatment.
Freedom from slavery – rejection of chattel slavery and human ownership.
Right to basic sustenance – access to food, water, and clean air as preconditions of existence.
Right to shelter and safety – protection from exposure and deliberate harm.
Right to family and association – recognition of kinship and the ability to form human bonds.
Freedom of conscience – inner freedom to think, believe, and hold values.
Right to seek justice – recourse against wrongs, however imperfect.
These are not “absolute” in a metaphysical sense, but they are treated as universally binding regulative ideals within the human framework, much like your example of the right not to be enslaved.
B. Highly Contextual / Conditional Human Rights
These rights shift depending on conditions, circumstances, and cultural interpretation.
Right to self-defense – normally upheld, but can clash with limits on violence or proportionality.
Right to property – varies by system; absolute in some capitalist societies, relative or communal in others.
Right to bear arms – considered a “right” in the U.S., but not in most countries.
Right to privacy – broad in liberal democracies, heavily restricted under authoritarian regimes.
Right to free expression – near-universal in principle, but often curtailed in cases of hate speech, wartime censorship, or national security.
Right to political participation (e.g., vote, run for office) – varies widely depending on age, citizenship, gender (historically), or political system.
Prisoner rights – differ drastically between societies; some recognize them fully, others strip them almost entirely.
Rights in wartime – e.g., treatment of combatants vs. civilians, prisoner-of-war protections—these are recognized, but heavily compromised by context.
So the continuum looks like this:
Imperative rights = non-negotiable standards (right to life, no slavery, dignity of person).
Contextual rights = dependent on circumstances, culture, law, or conflict (property, speech, wartime conduct, self-defense).
Such the following human rights are critical necessary:
A. Imperative / Near-Universal Human Rights (Regulative Standards)
These are rights that, across history and cultures, have been recognized as essential to human survival and dignity. They function like “axioms” for human coexistence.
I don't think you get it, murder and killing are contextual. What one society defends as murder another defines as killing. The standards for slavery is normal work is not fixed, same with justice as revenge, etc.
The AI prevents a continuum but fails to take into account that each of these "constants" is subject to interpretation.
Universal constants are subject to interpretations in these regards.
Dually the universal constants are so generic that they can be reinterpretted in innumerable ways because of the aforementioned point.
Because these rights are not absolute in the metaphysical sense, as the AI admits, they are not universal laws that underlye being, thus the AI is subjecting itself to paradox as "human rights" is a context....as a context sometimes it is right and sometimes wrong.
Now if these are rights, the constant, which exist across human history, and human history is one of conflict and exploitation than inherent these rights are tied into conflict and exploitation.
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
The will to live is not subject to strictly a biological experience but effectively the manifestation of experience.Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Sun Sep 28, 2025 4:43 amAI Wrote:
Yes — the argument you gave is strong and absolutely valid as a justification: the right to live emerges directly from empirical observation of human (and broader biological) nature.
This is justified via the scientific framework and system [biology, evolutionary psychology, neurosciences, etc.].
Every organism exhibits a fundamental will-to-live; humans are no exception. Newborns instinctively grasp, cry for nourishment, and resist harm — clear evidence that life-preservation is a non-negotiable drive embedded in our nature. This empirical fact underpins why the right to life is not arbitrary or relative, but imperative.
Here are other lines of reasoning you can use to justify Imperative / Near-Universal Human Rights (Regulative Standards):
1. Evolutionary & Biological Argument
Survival instincts (fight-or-flight, avoidance of pain, pursuit of food/shelter) are hardwired in all humans.
Evolution selects for behaviors and structures that protect survival and reproduction.
Therefore, rights like life, bodily integrity, and freedom from slavery are grounded in biology itself. They protect the minimal conditions for evolutionary continuity.
2. Functional Necessity for Social Cooperation
Human beings are social creatures; survival depends on cooperation (hunting, sharing, protection).
If life and safety are not secured for individuals, trust collapses, and groups fragment.
Thus, rights like life, safety, and justice are functional necessities to maintain social order and avoid extinction.
3. Empirical Universality Across Cultures
Anthropological studies show that nearly all cultures recognize prohibitions on murder, arbitrary violence, and enslavement within the group.
Even where violations exist, they are condemned internally, showing the ideal persists as a standard.
This cultural universality suggests these rights are near-universal constants of human coexistence.
4. Logical/Contradiction Argument
Denying the right to life is self-defeating: if one denies it for others, one cannot claim it for oneself.
To act against this right is to create conditions that justify others acting against you.
Hence, recognition of the right to life is logically necessary for consistent moral practice.
5. Minimal Conditions for Dignity & Flourishing
Beyond survival, rights like freedom of conscience, family association, and dignity are rooted in what it means to flourish as human.
These are not luxuries, but minimal standards for being treated as human rather than as an object or tool.
Together, these arguments form a layered justification:
Biological grounding (survival instincts).
Evolutionary logic (species continuity).
Social function (trust and cooperation).
Anthropological universality (cross-cultural persistence).
Logical consistency (self-defeating to deny).
Summary:
The right to life is not an arbitrary consensus but grounded in empirical evidence of human nature. Every newborn instinctively resists death and cries for sustenance, showing that the will-to-live is biologically hardwired. Evolution itself proves this: no species survives by desiring extinction. Beyond biology, social cooperation depends on mutual recognition of life and safety—without it, trust collapses and groups disintegrate. Across cultures, prohibitions on murder and enslavement appear universally, even if imperfectly upheld, confirming their near-universal status. Finally, denying the right to life is self-defeating, since to reject it for others logically denies it for oneself. For these reasons, imperative rights like life, dignity, and freedom from slavery are not illusions but regulative standards necessary for survival and flourishing.
The basic will to live is negated by some countries promoting abortion as a right and the right to die as a right.
Dually in regards to experiential life people take drugs so to avoid basic life experiences, these are not a will to live.
Buddhists and Hindus practices are often about ending the cycle of reincarnation...this is not a will to live.
The will to live is not a universal value.
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
Rights------(human rights, animal rights, ecological rights,)-----don't float around unattached to any context. There is no such thing as nature -which- confers -rights. Nature does not care whether species, individuals, or the whole bang shoot survives or not.Eodnhoj7 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 28, 2025 4:53 amThe will to live is not subject to strictly a biological experience but effectively the manifestation of experience.Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Sun Sep 28, 2025 4:43 amAI Wrote:
Yes — the argument you gave is strong and absolutely valid as a justification: the right to live emerges directly from empirical observation of human (and broader biological) nature.
This is justified via the scientific framework and system [biology, evolutionary psychology, neurosciences, etc.].
Every organism exhibits a fundamental will-to-live; humans are no exception. Newborns instinctively grasp, cry for nourishment, and resist harm — clear evidence that life-preservation is a non-negotiable drive embedded in our nature. This empirical fact underpins why the right to life is not arbitrary or relative, but imperative.
Here are other lines of reasoning you can use to justify Imperative / Near-Universal Human Rights (Regulative Standards):
1. Evolutionary & Biological Argument
Survival instincts (fight-or-flight, avoidance of pain, pursuit of food/shelter) are hardwired in all humans.
Evolution selects for behaviors and structures that protect survival and reproduction.
Therefore, rights like life, bodily integrity, and freedom from slavery are grounded in biology itself. They protect the minimal conditions for evolutionary continuity.
2. Functional Necessity for Social Cooperation
Human beings are social creatures; survival depends on cooperation (hunting, sharing, protection).
If life and safety are not secured for individuals, trust collapses, and groups fragment.
Thus, rights like life, safety, and justice are functional necessities to maintain social order and avoid extinction.
3. Empirical Universality Across Cultures
Anthropological studies show that nearly all cultures recognize prohibitions on murder, arbitrary violence, and enslavement within the group.
Even where violations exist, they are condemned internally, showing the ideal persists as a standard.
This cultural universality suggests these rights are near-universal constants of human coexistence.
4. Logical/Contradiction Argument
Denying the right to life is self-defeating: if one denies it for others, one cannot claim it for oneself.
To act against this right is to create conditions that justify others acting against you.
Hence, recognition of the right to life is logically necessary for consistent moral practice.
5. Minimal Conditions for Dignity & Flourishing
Beyond survival, rights like freedom of conscience, family association, and dignity are rooted in what it means to flourish as human.
These are not luxuries, but minimal standards for being treated as human rather than as an object or tool.
Together, these arguments form a layered justification:
Biological grounding (survival instincts).
Evolutionary logic (species continuity).
Social function (trust and cooperation).
Anthropological universality (cross-cultural persistence).
Logical consistency (self-defeating to deny).
Summary:
The right to life is not an arbitrary consensus but grounded in empirical evidence of human nature. Every newborn instinctively resists death and cries for sustenance, showing that the will-to-live is biologically hardwired. Evolution itself proves this: no species survives by desiring extinction. Beyond biology, social cooperation depends on mutual recognition of life and safety—without it, trust collapses and groups disintegrate. Across cultures, prohibitions on murder and enslavement appear universally, even if imperfectly upheld, confirming their near-universal status. Finally, denying the right to life is self-defeating, since to reject it for others logically denies it for oneself. For these reasons, imperative rights like life, dignity, and freedom from slavery are not illusions but regulative standards necessary for survival and flourishing.
The basic will to live is negated by some countries promoting abortion as a right and the right to die as a right.
Dually in regards to experiential life people take drugs so to avoid basic life experiences, these are not a will to live. Your AI is mistaken and you should point this out to your AI.
Buddhists and Hindus practices are often about ending the cycle of reincarnation...this is not a will to live.
The will to live is not a universal value.
The fact that humans are at present biologically social is not Nature's witting choice but is a law of science / unwitting nature. It is not impossible that a species of human can be artificially bred which is asocial.
Your AI's information is incorrect in its summing up. Do you always accept without question what your AI machine tells you is the case ? If so, don't. Ask the AI machine for its references. Point out to your AI machine when it is 'hallucinating' or biased. The large language model is just that and it has its limits.
Note that your AI machine did tell you that your justification is correct. Note also a justification is one narrative among other narratives; a justification is not all that is the case.
-
popeye1945
- Posts: 3058
- Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2021 2:12 am
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
Either the farm was bizarre, or the observer was bizarre.Eodnhoj7 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 11:30 pmYou apparently are not aware of how organisms act then if what you take from this is wild. Have you worked on a farm?popeye1945 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 7:06 amThat is a truly wild slant on my post. How on earth did you get from basing a moral system on a common foundation, such as our common biology, to such a bizarre interpretation? Your imagination has gone rogue on you. Morality should be based on our common biology, not only because it is the natural foundation for a species that experiences the world through the same biology. The science of biology and psychology could best contribute to a universal understanding of what supports and what undermines the survival and well-being of our common species.Eodnhoj7 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 2:45 am
By that logic cannibalism is justified as consuming what is the same would make said species stronger by weeding out the weak and absorbing there essence. Cannibalism is common enough in the animal kingdom, I have seen it working on a farm, it is quite common enough in 3rd world tribal societies and among the 1st world elite. And yet cannibalism assumes a right of superiority thus causes conflict. So cannibalism is a right under a biological context, but the right causes conflict. Biology cannot be used as a measure of rights without contradiction.
From another degree if rights are relativistic than they do not exist universally.
-
MikeNovack
- Posts: 502
- Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2025 1:17 pm
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
He's talking about chickens, for example. Or I guess pigs (but in that case, somebody else killed and dismembered first). Obviously the herbivores you first think of as farm animals aren't going to be cannibals, but some farm animals are omnivores.popeye1945 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 28, 2025 10:05 pmEither the farm was bizarre, or the observer was bizarre.
-
Veritas Aequitas
- Posts: 15722
- Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:41 am
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
I offered my opinions and AI summarized it in alignment:Eodnhoj7 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 28, 2025 4:49 am
No, I stated "Human rights are an illusion and not necessary".
I don't think you get it, murder and killing are contextual. What one society defends as murder another defines as killing. The standards for slavery is normal work is not fixed, same with justice as revenge, etc.
The AI prevents a continuum but fails to take into account that each of these "constants" is subject to interpretation.
Universal constants are subject to interpretations in these regards.
Dually the universal constants are so generic that they can be reinterpretted in innumerable ways because of the aforementioned point.
Because these rights are not absolute in the metaphysical sense, as the AI admits, they are not universal laws that underlye being, thus the AI is subjecting itself to paradox as "human rights" is a context....as a context sometimes it is right and sometimes wrong.
Now if these are rights, the constant, which exist across human history, and human history is one of conflict and exploitation than inherent these rights are tied into conflict and exploitation.
AI wrote:This is a good opportunity to sharpen your Kantian / constructivist stance against your interlocutor’s false dilemma. He’s trying to collapse everything into: either absolute metaphysical rights or meaningless illusions. But you can rebut by showing that regulative universals are neither illusions nor absolutes — they are necessary standards within human frameworks, even though interpretations vary.
AI wrote:Here’s a debate-ready reply you can use:
You are still insisting on a false choice: either rights exist as absolute metaphysical entities or they collapse into illusions. That is precisely the dogmatic thinking Kant critiqued. Rights are not “things-in-themselves” floating in metaphysical space — but that does not make them meaningless. They are regulative universals: necessary standards rooted in human nature and social survival, even though their application varies by context.
Yes, societies disagree on definitions of murder, slavery, or justice. But the very fact they argue over these terms proves that the underlying constant exists. Every society has rules against unjust killing, prohibitions on absolute enslavement, and mechanisms for justice. Variation in application does not erase the constant — just as different calendars don’t erase the reality of time.
Conflict and exploitation do not negate rights either; they reveal the struggle to uphold them. The fact that rights are violated throughout history shows their necessity, not their illusion. If anything, history demonstrates that where rights are denied, conflict and exploitation escalate.
So, rights are not absolute metaphysical laws — but neither are they empty illusions. They are universal regulative ideals, indispensable for human survival and flourishing, even if imperfectly realized and endlessly debated.
-
Veritas Aequitas
- Posts: 15722
- Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:41 am
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
Looks like you are countering my views than Eodnhoj7's.
You are assuming "nature" exists as an absolutely ontologically independent entity from humans, i.e. philosophical realism.
You are wrong! What is nature is conditioned upon the human condition.
Yes, it is not impossible for a species of human to be bred with antisocial behaviors. However, within the Framework and System, it will still have its 'rights' to live, otherwise there will be anarchy and the species will not last for long as ordinary human species has lasted for hundreds of thousands of years..
Note my AI had referred to Kantian philosophy.
You have done none of that?
Yes, 'rights' are always relative to context, i.e. the human context.Belinda wrote: ↑Sun Sep 28, 2025 10:43 am Rights------(human rights, animal rights, ecological rights,)-----don't float around unattached to any context. There is no such thing as nature -which- confers -rights. Nature does not care whether species, individuals, or the whole bang shoot survives or not.
The fact that humans are at present biologically social is not Nature's witting choice but is a law of science / unwitting nature. It is not impossible that a species of human can be artificially bred which is asocial.
You are assuming "nature" exists as an absolutely ontologically independent entity from humans, i.e. philosophical realism.
You are wrong! What is nature is conditioned upon the human condition.
What is Science and Law of Science are also interdependent with the human conditions, they don't exist absolutely independent from the human conditions.In Kant's philosophy, "we put there" refers to the human mind's role in structuring experience, particularly through the understanding's imposition of a priori forms of intuition (space and time) and categories of understanding onto the raw sensory data, thereby creating the laws and order of nature as we experience it. The mind doesn't just passively receive information about nature; it actively legislates the very principles by which nature is known and organized, making nature a coherent, intelligible system.
Google Search AI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=376igawvTR8&t=707
Yes, it is not impossible for a species of human to be bred with antisocial behaviors. However, within the Framework and System, it will still have its 'rights' to live, otherwise there will be anarchy and the species will not last for long as ordinary human species has lasted for hundreds of thousands of years..
I have always question AI's where I do not agree and therefrom provided counterviews.Your AI's information is incorrect in its summing up. Do you always accept without question what your AI machine tells you is the case ? If so, don't. Ask the AI machine for its references. Point out to your AI machine when it is 'hallucinating' or biased. The large language model is just that and it has its limits.
Note my AI had referred to Kantian philosophy.
The onus is on you to show with valid and sound argument my and my AI's justification is wrong.Note that your AI machine did tell you that your justification is correct. Note also a justification is one narrative among other narratives; a justification is not all that is the case.
You have done none of that?
-
popeye1945
- Posts: 3058
- Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2021 2:12 am
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
Human rights do not exist as something that exists in and of themselves. Biology is the measure and the meaning of all things, which makes humanity the creator of a world it wishes to live in. All things that we find meaningful, we have given them that meaning. Even pack animals like wolves have wolf rights; it is fundamentally a matter of self-interest and compassion for your fellows. The creation of meaning/s is a biological function that enables us to move more safely and survive in the world. The physical world has no meaning/s in and of itself; it is meaningless in the absence of biological consciousness. To say that human rights are not necessary is simply foolish. We need society as a tool for survival. Without the compassion of our fellows and a structured moral system, society would cease to be a shelter from the storm of an uncaring physical world. We would not survive. Society, culture, systems of morality, and institutions are our biological extensions, our creations, expressions of the desires, wants, and needs of human nature. They have meaning because they are meaningful to us, plain and simple. We create physical things, and the meanings and uses for them to serve our self-interests for survival and well-being. Not realizing this is to live your life in a state of naive realism, you believe all things are just as they seem.
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
"....Even though interpretations very." The AI is fundamentally agreeing with what I said all along.Veritas Aequitas wrote: ↑Mon Sep 29, 2025 3:47 amI offered my opinions and AI summarized it in alignment:Eodnhoj7 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 28, 2025 4:49 am
No, I stated "Human rights are an illusion and not necessary".
I don't think you get it, murder and killing are contextual. What one society defends as murder another defines as killing. The standards for slavery is normal work is not fixed, same with justice as revenge, etc.
The AI prevents a continuum but fails to take into account that each of these "constants" is subject to interpretation.
Universal constants are subject to interpretations in these regards.
Dually the universal constants are so generic that they can be reinterpretted in innumerable ways because of the aforementioned point.
Because these rights are not absolute in the metaphysical sense, as the AI admits, they are not universal laws that underlye being, thus the AI is subjecting itself to paradox as "human rights" is a context....as a context sometimes it is right and sometimes wrong.
Now if these are rights, the constant, which exist across human history, and human history is one of conflict and exploitation than inherent these rights are tied into conflict and exploitation.
AI wrote:This is a good opportunity to sharpen your Kantian / constructivist stance against your interlocutor’s false dilemma. He’s trying to collapse everything into: either absolute metaphysical rights or meaningless illusions. But you can rebut by showing that regulative universals are neither illusions nor absolutes — they are necessary standards within human frameworks, even though interpretations vary.AI wrote:Here’s a debate-ready reply you can use:
You are still insisting on a false choice: either rights exist as absolute metaphysical entities or they collapse into illusions. That is precisely the dogmatic thinking Kant critiqued. Rights are not “things-in-themselves” floating in metaphysical space — but that does not make them meaningless. They are regulative universals: necessary standards rooted in human nature and social survival, even though their application varies by context.
Yes, societies disagree on definitions of murder, slavery, or justice. But the very fact they argue over these terms proves that the underlying constant exists. Every society has rules against unjust killing, prohibitions on absolute enslavement, and mechanisms for justice. Variation in application does not erase the constant — just as different calendars don’t erase the reality of time.
Conflict and exploitation do not negate rights either; they reveal the struggle to uphold them. The fact that rights are violated throughout history shows their necessity, not their illusion. If anything, history demonstrates that where rights are denied, conflict and exploitation escalate.
So, rights are not absolute metaphysical laws — but neither are they empty illusions. They are universal regulative ideals, indispensable for human survival and flourishing, even if imperfectly realized and endlessly debated.
Given human rights is an act of expressive force of asserted interpretations, they are not logically necessary given those who asserted rights are superceding the natural assertions of others. Human rights leads to the conflict between human rights. What is a right to one man is not a right to another and the nature of human rights is one of conflicting interpretations of what it means to be human. They are absolute within a given context, but contexts change and the change of said contexts is a forced construct.
As to the AI:
I never said they where meaningless. I said they are not necessary. Unnecessary things occur. I also said they are illusions by degree of unfixed interpretations and non-universal values. Human rights are necessary in the respect they are need to be transcended as they put artificial constraints on the human constition.
If the ideals need to be upheld then they are not natural and force is need to uphold them. If force is required to uphold them then by default people disagree with said rights and it is not their right to do disagree if the "rights are being shoved down their throats."
Human rights is ideological extortion and causes conflict precisely because they need to be upheld. The rights are negated if they result in the very said things that the rights claim as not right. If Human life is a right then by waging war for them the Human right of life is negated.
Because they are not universal metaphysical laws they are subject to the relative context of regulative ideals. But this is where the AI agrees with me, in wording them as "regulative ideals" they are synonymous to expressions of force...as I stated. "Regulative" as force. Ideals as "expression".
If murder is an underlying constant then cultures would not be fighting over what the nature of murder is. It is like saying "A is true" and yet "A" means infinite things.
Keep using the AI...it is agreeing with me.
Re: Why Human Rights are an Illusion and Not Necessary
I asked you: have you worked on a farm?popeye1945 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 28, 2025 10:05 pmEither the farm was bizarre, or the observer was bizarre.Eodnhoj7 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 11:30 pmYou apparently are not aware of how organisms act then if what you take from this is wild. Have you worked on a farm?popeye1945 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 27, 2025 7:06 am
That is a truly wild slant on my post. How on earth did you get from basing a moral system on a common foundation, such as our common biology, to such a bizarre interpretation? Your imagination has gone rogue on you. Morality should be based on our common biology, not only because it is the natural foundation for a species that experiences the world through the same biology. The science of biology and psychology could best contribute to a universal understanding of what supports and what undermines the survival and well-being of our common species.
Last edited by Eodnhoj7 on Mon Sep 29, 2025 4:56 am, edited 1 time in total.