I find the idea of ‘rights’ intuitively compelling. However, on examination I have found myself left without any real support for the notion, not for humans nor animals.
“Rights’ as a notion seem to be a plea to an authority that despises all else but themselves. So, if we were to discard the context of authority-as-exiler-enslaver-destroyer-of-me-and-mine, what would we be left with? For sure, if in fact authority is enslaver or destroyer, then I would be enslaved or destroyed and I would, as a human, be firstly, frightened for my prospects for social exile, imprisonment and death are our deepest fears (or maybe they are one fear). Secondly I would be exiled, imprisoned or dead. Two of these are suffering. The third is relief of all suffering, albeit the process of being killed might be severe suffering for a time. Nonetheless, in regard to actual death as relief, and life as suffering, it occurs to me that there is no ‘right’ to life. Such would be synonymous with saying there is a right to suffering. So ultimately, the whole issue of rights, are, for me, a straw man.
Nonetheless, I spend my life attempting to assist the flourishing of life – human and ecological. I find myself personally distressed by the suffering of others and I too plea to authority to provide relief. And here’s the rub. I am not distressed because of their ‘right’ for life or comfort. I am simply empathetic. And the best I can do in reflection of that empathy is that I am distressed by the proxy reality (me living vicariously) that their life is my life being brought down, not flourishing. I do believe that there is something comfortable for us all if the ecosystem and all humans are flourishing, and I am very attracted to that context. Indeed, I see that there really is a strong probability that the debasement of any group of people by authority will become my lot in life, maybe the lot of all of us.
So, at the heart of my response to ‘rights’ is really a chastisement to authority. While I don’t see that ‘rights’ is more that a bit of a useful abstract to guide certain ‘agreement’ conversations, as an adult human I see that it is ‘responsibility’ that is the real human condition. I define “responsibility” as the ontological state of a mature human. As a concept, then, a dearth of responsibility is a state of immaturity.
Taken this, the obvious question is “How does responsibility look or show up, in the world?” My broad answer to that is that a mature human is responsible for all of it. Returning to my attraction to a flourishing life, ‘all of it’ is the flourishing of everyone and everything. Responsible in that sense is not a ‘being the cause of’ but more like the concept of ‘being cause in the matter (of flourishing)’. Given this, how could we look at the plea to authority that one’s ‘rights’ are not being met. Rather than an argument over whether or not a particular ‘right’ exists, it seems that moving the conversation to whether something is missing in the conversation and actions in responsibility for the flourishing of everyone and the ecosystem, then an actual adult conversation (as in a continuous back and forth of inquiry) is more likely to source both attitudinal and behavioural change.
Of course, in the overarching case that authority doesn’t give a damn about engaging in such ‘weakened’ behaviour, and responds with the equivalent of the 3 year old F/U, the conversation will tend to take a turn for the worse, verbal and actionable. Of course the denigrating of the enslaver is also hardly being responsible for the flourishing. Yet, as every parent sooner or later realises, our authority to the child, if enforced past it’s use-by date, will lead to chaos in the household.
Acknowledging that, the possibility for an individual to become a mature adult in the face of authoritarianism, has long been counselled by the wise, i.e avoiding killing, avoiding stealing, working together for common good, equity, support of the vulnerable, requesting of authority, and, where the stakes are high, such as the possibility for a complete transformation of society towards a flourishing for everyone, even sacrificing one’s life. The latter doesn’t mean in an act of revenge, just the stand that might attract a killing from authority. An act of revenge is also simply the release of the 3 year old F/U onto that authority. And it has never been shown that 2 or more three year olds at each other have ever come to a greater good. Of course I use 3 year old because the wild behaviour of such an age is evident and clear. However, many human adults in the first world have only achieved a developmental age of adolescence, a desire in large to be part of a group.
The mature adult mostly finds themself a more socially adaptable way of being, more independent of all groups and yet able to engage with many conversations. And it is here, in an interdependence of independent thinkers, that true maturation and the effectiveness towards a flourishing human landscape occurs. What circumstances are available for animals will tend to fall out in the flourishing. There a big questions here for the adult society. On domestic animals it comes down to where do pets and food animals fit into the flourishing ecosystem? For in any given year, and agreement to that question is made, and whatever pets and food animals are part of the ecosystem will be automatically managed, by the mature adult as to their flourishing.
For example, I propose that civilisation should now give up the culture of pets, for social and environmental flourishing. Nonetheless, I realise that there is yet great resistance to such. Much of that resistance comes from the immature ‘consumerist’ attitude to social life, including, “it’s all too hard to deal with (people, work, bosses, climate change, politics etc etc etc). So, while domestic animals abound I shall assert to those with authority (ownership) of them, to deal with them in full consideration of their place in a flourishing human society and ecosystem. And because there is a relationship between our immaturity and the quantity of pets and food animals there are, the more social and ecosystem breakdown can be seen on a daily basis. Conversations that include the evidences from various outcomes related to animals will either gain power or loose power. In democracies, the conversations that gain power form policies and laws. The effectiveness of policies and laws are quite directly related to the degree of maturity, the responsibility among humans to consider the full flourishing of everything.
Owen's Meanderings 