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The term inalienable rights (or unalienable rights) refers to a set of rights that are believed to be absolute, not awarded by any human power and not transferable to another power or capable of being repudiated. The phrase originated in the United States Declaration of Independence, where inalienable rights are said to include "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". In the years since, several other sets of inalienable rights have been developed. For the direction right, see left and right or starboard. ...
U.S. Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence is a document in which the Thirteen Colonies declared themselves independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain and explained their justifications for doing so. ...
Life is a multi-faceted concept. ...
Liberty is generally thought of in English as a condition in which an individual has immunity from the arbitrary exercise of authority; it often also implies the right to exercise political rights such as standing for office. ...
Happiness is a condition which humans can have. ...
The Declaration of Independence
The United States Declaration of Independence, famously asserts that: U.S. Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence is the document in which the Thirteen Colonies declared themselves independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain and explained their justifications for doing so. ...
- "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Critics of the concept of inalienable rights contend that when Benjamin Franklin edited Jefferson's draft of the Declaration to include the term "self-evident," he may have been paying heed to Deist philosophy as well as Enlightenment principles. Supporters of the concept, on the other hand, contend that "self-evident" means: evidence of which one can obtain by oneself. Deism is belief in a God or first cause based on reason, rather than on faith or revelation, and thus a form of theism in opposition to fideism. ...
The Age of Enlightenment refers to the 18th century in European philosophy, and is often thought of as part of a larger period which includes the Age of Reason. ...
Historical development It has been argued that the idea of inalienable rights is derived from the freeborn rights claimed by the Englishman John Lilburne in his conflict with both the monarchy of King Charles I and the military dictatorship of the republic governed by Oliver Cromwell. Lilburne (known as Freeborn John) defined freeborn rights as being rights that every human being is born with, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or by human law. Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
Charles I (19 November 1600–30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625, until his death. ...
Unfinished portrait miniature of Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper, 1657. ...
The concept of inalienable rights is central to the ideology of liberalism. Inalienable rights played important roles in the justifications for both the French and American Revolutions. 17th-century philosopher John Locke also discussed the idea of inalienable rights in his work, and defined them as being "life, liberty, and estate (or property)". Note: This entry discusses liberalism as a world wide ideology, not its manifestations in any specific country. ...
Before the Revolution: The 13 colonies are in red, the pink area was claimed by Great Britain after the French and Indian War, and the orange region was claimed by Spain. ...
(16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ...
A philosopher is a person devoted to studying and producing results in philosophy. ...
John Locke John Locke (August 29, 1632 – October 28, 1704) was a 17th-century philosopher concerned primarily with society and epistemology. ...
Criticism The concept of inalienable rights has often been criticized for being largely groundless, since no explanation is given as to where these rights come from. If they are based on theological principles (as in "God-given rights"), one may ask which theological principles those are (since none of the major religions of the world confirms the existence of inalienable rights), or why those theological principles should be accepted by people who do not adhere to the religion from which they are derived. Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It also refers to the study of other religious topics. ...
If, on the other hand, inalienable rights are said to be based on Natural Law, then this argument can easily be criticized for being a non sequitur and an example of the naturalistic fallacy. The phrase "We hold these truths to be self-evident" has been accused of being simply a more elegant version of "Because we said so". The natural law or law of nature is a system of justice that exists independently of the positive law of a given political order. ...
Non sequitur is Latin for it does not follow. ...
George E. Moore The naturalistic fallacy is an alleged logical fallacy, identified by British philosopher G.E. Moore in Principia Ethica (1903), which Moore stated was committed whenever a philosopher attempts to prove a claim about ethics by appealing to a definition of the term good in terms of one...
The existence of unalienable rights is not necessary for the existence of a constitution or a set of laws and rights. The idea of a social contract – that rights and responsibilities are derived from a consensual contract between the government and the people – is the most widely recognized alternative. Social contract is a phrase used in philosophy, political science, and sociology to denote a real or hypothetical agreement within a state regarding the rights and responsibilities of the state and its citizens, or more generally a similar concord between a group and its members. ...
Support According to the United States Declaration of Independence, certain inalienable rights are self-evident. "Self-evident" does not mean "because I said so"; it is an assertion that anyone can see the evidence of the truth for themselves. The right to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, are considered inalienable by the declaration because they are so integrated with human nature that they cannot be relinquished. Evidence that people always retain their instinct for self-preservation and freedom is available in every facet of human interaction, and, as unanimously declared by the 1776 United States Congress, does not require any other grounds or statement about where these rights come from.
If everyone acknowledges that self-preservation and a desire for freedom exist, further proof of their existence is unnecessary and certainly not contingent upon any particular definition of a creator.
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