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Inalienable or Inviolable rights of Man


Cam42

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[quote name='Cam42' date='Nov 27 2005, 03:35 PM']By the way, inviolable and inalienable are synonymous.

inviolable
[quote name='WordNet 2.0']not capable of being violated or infringed; "infrangible human rights"[/quote]

inalienable
[quote name='WordNet 2.0']incapable of being repudiated or transferred to another; "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights"[/quote]

Inviolable is often used as the religious terminology and inalienable the secular, but the meanings are synonymous.
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Here we start.

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[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='Nov 27 2005, 04:42 PM']btw, is this a survey or do you wanna debate? :drool:
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:lol:

Right, like Cam usually just wants to chat in the Debate Table...

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Extra ecclesiam nulla salus

[quote]"The Church proclaims the rights of man."
- Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, #41.[/quote]


I think that applies here

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[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='Nov 27 2005, 04:42 PM']btw, is this a survey or do you wanna debate? :drool:
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Have at it.

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I think it depends on how literally you apply the terms.

The right to life is, in one sense, inalienable, but it is not absolutely so. Life can be taken with legitimacy in certain circumstances.

Other rights (such as the right to respect proper to the dignity of man) ARE absolute.

So long as we recognize the flexibility of the concept, it can be said that man has inalienable rights.

Edited by Era Might
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[quote name='Era Might' date='Nov 27 2005, 04:56 PM']I think it depends on how literally you apply the terms.

The right to life is, in one sense, inalienable, but it is not absolutely so. Life can be taken with legitimacy in certain circumstances.

Other rights (such as the right to respect proper to the dignity of man) ARE absolute.

So long as we recognize the flexibility of the concept, I would agree that man has inalienable rights.
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That is exactly right. And has been my point on several threads discussing several things......

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Laudate_Dominum

alright, I'll make a snide comment for the sake of playing devil's food cake advocate.

The concept of "rights" and rights language in general is foreign to historical christianity and is the product of secular enlightenment philosophy.
Also, the idea of what constitutes an inalienable right changes from culture to culture and is essentially relative and not absolute. The ideals of the declaration of independence are hardly compatible with the implied social ideals of St. Paul.
Also, the ideological underpinnings of rights language presuppose certain relationships between government and citizens which are foreign to the medieval and certainly ancient social order. For example bi-lateral social contract theory.
And it is possible to conceive of scenarios in which an individuals supposedly inalienable rights can be infringed upon for the sake of the common good. This seems to make the concept itself somewhat of an exaggeration or perhaps simply a fiction. More than likely the product of 17th and particularly 18th century revolutionary propaganda intended to provoke revolt against the hierarchical social order of the time including to some degree the Catholic Church herself.
So I assert, that there is no such thing as "inalienable rights", this concept is simply bombastic rhetoric used by propagandists to provoke secular revolution; it is a masonic rallying cry which has carried over into the contemporary western ethos and is not an authentic part of Christian morality.

Once again, I'm playing devil's food cake advocate.. let the games begin.

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[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='Nov 27 2005, 05:10 PM']And it is possible to conceive of scenarios in which an individuals supposedly inalienable rights can be infringed upon for the sake of the common good. [/quote]
you mean like the difference between personal dominion and eminant domain right?

Those are both present in Catholic moral theology, but should be understood in the context of rights to property other than internal property( that is body and soul).

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Laudate_Dominum

[quote name='Paphnutius' date='Nov 27 2005, 05:20 PM']you mean like the difference between personal dominion and eminant domain right?

Those are both present in Catholic moral theology, but should be understood in the context of rights to property other than internal property( that is body and soul).
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I more had in mind scenarios in which citizens can be locked in cages for 40 years or have their brains fried out of their noses in an electric chair. I can't think of a single "inalienable" right that cannot be forfeited, therefore the concept itself seems superfluous.

But this is often the case with ideological propaganda. Marxism for example has its own facades and contradictions.

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[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='Nov 27 2005, 06:25 PM'] I can't think of a single "inalienable" right that cannot be forfeited, therefore the concept itself seems superfluous.
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I mentioned one above: the right to respect and treatment as a human person. No matter what a person has done, we cannot violate this right.

Rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are subsumed under this fundamental right. Although particular specific rights can have exceptions, the first right of human dignity cannot. Kind of like how vowels are fundamental in the English language. Although there is a variable in "Y", depending on the context of a specific vowel, the first obedience to vowels cannot be violated. Unless you first obey "I before E", "except after C" will not matter.

Edited by Era Might
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Laudate_Dominum

[quote name='Era Might' date='Nov 27 2005, 05:28 PM']I mentioned one above: the right to respect and treatment as a human person. No matter what a person has done, we cannot violate this right.

Rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are subsumed under this fundamental right. Although they are flexibile, this first right is not. Kind of how vowels are fundamental in the English language. Although there is a variable in "Y", depending on the context of a specific vowel, the first obedience to vowels cannot be violated, or else the "Y" variable will not be legitimate.
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But you've yet to convince me that such a statement has any real content. (again, devil's food cake advocate) First, what is the basis of such an assertion, and then what is the nature of this respect? I fail to see how the electric chair or a blast of napalm on a village reflects this truth. I still say that this concept of rights is fundamentally relative. If a person can be licitly destroyed what more fundamental rights can we discuss? And if it is possible to morally destroy people, how can one speak of "inalienable" rights in any meaningful sense of the word?

I'd still suggest that the social morality of the middle ages, while perhaps not being quite as fluffy and emotionally appealing, is more realistic and honest.

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photosynthesis

yes, people have inalienable rights... although I don't think the Church's idea of inalienable rights is the same as American society's....

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