Earlier this month, I posted regarding the nature of rights of human beings that lack the rational faculty (namely, young children). At the time, I had read only Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. I was dismissed for my perceived lack of understanding of basic tenets of Objectivism and directed to read further. As such, I procured a copy of The Virtue of Selfishness, which was one of the works recommended to me by members of this forum. I did not consult sources credited to the Ayn Rand Institute. I also reviewed “The One Minute Case for Individual Rights”.
As of right now, based upon my limited knowledge, I remain unconvinced that Rand’s argument for inherent rights of human beings is rationally supported. As such, I hold that rights must arise by virtue of an enforceable Social Contract (that conforms to a rationally derived system of ethics) and, as such, must exclude any being, human or otherwise, that has never been capable of exercising its rational faculty (the sleeping man, as well as the insane man, would be entitled to rights, assuming that he was, at some point, capable of exercising his rational faculty and, by virtue of said exercise, presumptively, entered into an enforceable Social Contract).
Rand offers barely two paragraphs in her essay “Man’s Rights” from The Virtue of Selfishness on the nature of rights. In the rest of the essay, Rand describes rights, promotes capitalism as the only system capable of sustaining rights and illuminates the absurdity of the concept of so-called collective rights (she continues these discussions in her essay “Collectivized Rights”).
For purposes of this post, I will focus on the two paragraphs that concern the nature of rights. I will not comment on “The One Minute Case for Individual Rights”, as it merely echoes Rand’s position. First, Rand asserts: “he [man] is an entity of a specific kind – a rational being… he cannot function successfully under coercion.” Man’s right to freedom from coercion is, according to Rand, synonymous with man’s right to life because (to paraphrase from “One Minute Case”) if man is not free to think and act on his judgment, he is incapable of achieving the values necessary to sustain his life. Based on this premise, Rand concludes: “rights are conditions of existence required by Man’s nature for his proper survival.” Then, her argument ends, as if she had proven that human beings have rights.
It appears to me that she is guilty of the fallacy that she frequently attributes to proponents of altruism – namely, that need creates entitlement: a human being must have rights to survive and, as such, is entitled to rights. Furthermore, she ignores or, for some reason, chooses not to address questions that her position necessarily raises. After all, beings that lack rational capacity, including animals and fetuses and human babies, would all benefit immensely if the concept of rights were extended to them. Their likelihood of survival would greatly increase. Ultimately, it makes no difference whether one must be free to use his mind to survive or be free from being killed and eaten to survive or be free from being exposed to the cold by her parents before her mind and muscles are fully developed to survive.
If one accepts the Objectivist position, as I’ve understood (misunderstood?) and summarized it, then one must also accept that pro-life and animal rights activists are acting according to Objectivist ideals. I do not believe that the Objectivist position on the subject of the nature of rights is rationally sound. I, therefore, hold that man has rights not because he is man, but because he is a rational being who takes certain steps toward procuring protection for his values. As such, in the spirit of intellectual honesty and with a deep sigh, I must accept the fact that children, whose rational faculty is not yet developed, are not entitled to any rights.