79 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
79 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
# Wellspring: Apologia: "Equality" vs "Metaphysical identity" as the foundation for rights.
|
|
|
|
Wellspring is a constitution meant to govern humans who wish not only to live, but to live **as humans**. Or, in order to anticipate the advent of artificial general intelligence, Wellspring is a constitution intended to govern rational creatures which wish not only to live, but to live as **rational** creatures.
|
|
|
|
We do not wish to hold captive to our borders, any individual who wishes to live otherwise. If your theory of humankind differs from ours, we welcome you to seek greener pastures in any of the almost two-hundred odd polities which exist to govern humankind as something other than a rational creature.
|
|
|
|
*Additionally, if you are a secularist or a believer in Judeo-Christianity, we make special appeals to you further down in this document which we hope you will find it edifying to read.*
|
|
|
|
## On "morality":
|
|
|
|
### Morality for all living things generally:
|
|
|
|
Morality is a code of behaviour for a particular species of creature which describes the set of actions which promote the life of the creature based on objectively observed facts about its nature. Morality examines and bases itself on the objectively observed facts about (1) the requirements for a creature's survival as well as (2) the holistic total of the essential nature of that creature -- i.e, its *metaphysical identity*.
|
|
|
|
- A bird requires food to survive. One can tie down a bird's wings and feed it and enable it to survive; but for it to not only live, but to live **as a bird** (i.e, holistically), it must be able to exercise the characteristic capabilities which are bestowed on it by the nature of its species. Until the bird is able to embrace the holistic total of its characteristic nature such as flight, it is living as something less than a bird.
|
|
- Likewise a human requires food to survive. One can impound humans, nourish them and thereby enable them to survive; but for humans not only to live, but to live **as humans**, they must be allowed to exercise the characteristically human capabilities which humankind possesses by the nature of our species. Until an individual is able to embrace the holistic total of its nature as a rational creature and make full use of its rational faculty, it is living as something **less than** a human.
|
|
|
|
Note also that the pursuit of life allows and disallows a definite set of behaviours -- ingesting food nourishes while poison kills. Chocolate nourishes a human while it harms a dog. A moral code is an objective descriptions of the definite actions which promote or destroy the life of that species.
|
|
|
|
Morality consists of a code of behaviour to enable a species to live successfully as **what it is**. Notice that morality does not reference life in a social context -- morality pertains to the code of behaviour which a creature must follow in order to live successfully irrespective of its proximity to other creatures. In fact, a creature's observance of the moral code that sustains its life is **most crucial** when it has no assistance on hand. When there is no physician to heal you, your adherence to an objectively defined moral code becomes even more essential.
|
|
|
|
### Morality specific to rational creatures such as humans:
|
|
|
|
Humans are born tabula rasa - their rational faculty is given to them but knowledge is not. Infants lack knowledge of even the most basic threats to their lives, and are drawn as much to a flame as to a nourishing meal. Yet humans must somehow follow the definite set of behaviours required by their nature in order to survive; or in fewer words, humans must somehow **discover** the objective facts that constitute their moral code.
|
|
|
|
- Humans meet their requirements for survival and all other needs for their flourishing by applying their powers of reason to the natural world, discovering the laws that govern nature, and harnessing nature to produce their needs. The essential and defining attribute of humankind is that it is the rational creature and its primary tool for survival is its reason.
|
|
- Rationality in other words, is **both** the means by which humans both discover the behaviours which promote their life (i.e, the objective facts which inform their **moral code**), as well as the means by which they pursue those behaviours.
|
|
- The moral code for a rational creature then, consists of the rational study of both itself and its environment; and the taking of action to harness nature to promote its life (i.e, moral action). Indeed, the conscious use of reason is the essence of moral behaviour for human life.
|
|
|
|
A human who refuses to use their rational faculty will either live by predating off another human who does, or it will die. That is, it will either act as a predator on another human who has chosen to act morally, or it will die.
|
|
|
|
For the remainder of this document we will narrow our scope to the philosophy of the morality and rights of rational creatures specifically, such as humans.
|
|
|
|
## On "rights":
|
|
|
|
The notion of "rights" arises when a creature, having a certain objectively required moral code to satisfy, must pursue that moral code in the presence of other creatures. Rights are the claims one may make to engage in the actions essential to meet one's moral requirements when one is operating in a social context. For a rational creature, this translates to the statement that rights are the claims it may make to engage in the actions which apply its rationally acquired knowledge to meet its requirements for life and flourishing **qua rational being**. Anything less would be to live as less than a rational being -- as **less than human**. This has several main corollaries:
|
|
|
|
- To hold a rational being back from applying its reason to its life is to oppose its very means of supporting its life; and therefore ultimately to oppose its life **qua rational being**, and reduce it to less than human.
|
|
- An objective fact about humankind is that we have limbs capable of exerting brute force and predating on other rational beings; but it's also an objective fact that we have a rational brain capable of directing these same limbs to labour to produce instead of to predate on those who do produce.
|
|
- A rational being's pursuit of its morality **qua rational being** consists of scientifically observing the objective facts about reality and learning knowledge of how to terraform nature to produce its needs for a holistic life -- in other words, a rational being pursues its requirements for life not as a predator or a brute, but through productivity.
|
|
- When a rational being has need for the produce of another rational entity: rationality, and therefore morality, demands that it engage in mutually voluntary **trade** -- that it exchange the produce of its own rational efforts (cognitive or physical) for the produce of the other.
|
|
- Ergo finally, due to the metaphysical nature of rational beings as rational beings, which must live as such, the moral code which preserves and promotes rational life **demands rationality**; and the right to pursue that moral code in a social context **demands productivity**.
|
|
|
|
A right therefore, cannot consist of a claim to predate on other rational beings (which would amount to treating both the victim and oneself as less than human) -- whether on their minds, their bodies or their produce. A right for a rational creature consists solely of a right to exercise one's own capabilities toward the moral end of one's own life **qua rational being**, within a social context; and the fundamental right is the right to pursue one's own life and holistic flourishing -- or, the right to life **qua rational being**.
|
|
|
|
A rational creature which refuses to exercise its rationality to be productive, but prefers to predate and be brutish has voluntarily chosen to be a predator and a brute -- and the entire justification of private property law is that it preserves the right of rational beings to live qua rational being, and frees them from the predations of those who choose to live as less than rational beings. I.e, private property law is the set of restrictions which frees individuals who are acting in line with an objective moral code, from the predations of other rational beings who act immorally.
|
|
|
|
**Private property law is moral law** and rights, which are claims to moral actions, require the concomitant protections of private property law. They go hand in hand.
|
|
|
|
## The Morality of Life vs "Equality" and "God Given Rights":
|
|
|
|
The two foundations on which we have based individual rights heretofore have been "Equality" and "Divine commandment". Prior to the industrial revolution, it would have been impossible for philosophers to grasp the crucial role of reason in humankind's survival: indeed even Aristotle missed it in his time. Sir Francis Bacon deduced that "knowledge is power". The Philosopher of the Second Enlightenment completed that thought by observing that reason is essential to human life -- i.e, that reason is essential to humankind's discovery and pursuit of, its moral code.
|
|
|
|
In graduating past "equality" and "divine commandment" as the foundation for individual rights, _we will not destroy individual rights, but instead cement them immovable, impregnable and sacrosanct_, grounded in an objective morality based on verifiable facts about human biological nature and the real world.
|
|
|
|
## Special appeal to Judeo-Christian believers:
|
|
|
|
It is important to specifically address the followers of Judeo-Christianity and convince them of an error they have accepted as being part of their bible's code of morality when it absolutely **isn't** - we offer an olive branch to the (not insignificant) following of Judeo-Christianity to hopefully make it easier for them to accept the Morality of Life based on objectively verifiable facts, within the **political** sphere.
|
|
|
|
Note that we're not arguing to change the ethics of Judeo-Christianity as practised by individuals/groups in the private sector: the aim here is to persuade the Judeo-Christian world that the Morality of Life as a foundation for rights in the political sphere is compatible with their ability to live and practise their religion unmolested within a `WS` polity.
|
|
|
|
### Does the Judeo-Christian bible actually teach that "All men are created equal"? What does it actually teach?
|
|
|
|
A common bromide is that the Judeo-Christian God "created all men equal" -- curiously, this maxim appears nowhere in the Judeo-Christian bible. The Judeo-Christian moral framework does **not** say that the Judeo-Christian God created all men equal; rather that he created all men *in his image* (Genesis 9:6). Those are two different statements with different ramifications. Judeo-Christian ethics is modeled not on equality as the impetus for morals, but on the contrary, it states that you should treat your neighbour as yourself because he was made in God's image, and has value in the eyes of his creator **in spite of** physiological inadequacies you may clearly see in him. A human has value not because s/he is your equal, but because they have value to their creator. Judeo-Christian believers treat the disadvantaged with respect because their god has a purpose for every individual -- and this is the essence of the "God given rights" tradition.
|
|
|
|
"Equality" is actually a humanist ethical foundation. In fact, the Judeo-Christian God **proudly admits** that He creates people unequally (Exodus 4:11) in order that when his purpose is fulfilled in a person's life, He (God) might gain even more glory in that He was able to accomplish His purpose through a flawed individual **in spite of** his flaws.
|
|
|
|
Christians are exhorted to be like the Bereans (Acts 17:11) - so "search and see whether this is so". Jews are commanded to reject any doctrine not based on the torah and the witness of the prophets (Isaiah 8:20). Is "equality" a scriptural notion, or a humanist one?
|
|
|
|
### The "Morality of life" based on the metaphysical identity of humankind is a better approximation of Judeo-Christian morality's foundation than "Equality" is.
|
|
|
|
Since `Wellspring` is a political document which aims to integrate residents holding multiple world views peacefully, it takes no position on whether or not the Judeo-Christian God did create our rational, ordered universe and endow humankind with the rational faculty; we merely observe that the rational, ordered universe is here, and that humankind has the ability to rationally grasp facts about both the universe and human biological nature.
|
|
|
|
We welcome Judeo-Christian believers to posit (within their private sector religious communities) that the objective facts that we observe were set in motion by the Judeo-Christian God. Subsequent to that statement, the Morality of Life is not antagonistic to Judeo-Christianity at all; and `WS` will never, by its structure and design, intrude on religious freedom except where the observance of any religion leads to an intrusion on the rights of another individual.
|
|
|
|
## Special appeal to secularists:
|
|
|
|
Secularists have long been seeking a moral framework which would enable politics to graduate past the mysticism of God-given rights. The Morality of Life is the objective morality which will peacefully integrate myriad individuals with very different views on morality thanks to its objective nature.
|