Are your rights, “natural rights”? According to philosophers like John Locke and Thomas Jefferson, our rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Property are “natural”. But, aren’t these just the rights governments give us? If you don’t pay your taxes, we can take away your house. If you engage in certain actions, we can lock you in a cell or kill you. Are there unalienable, natural rights, or are our rights just given to us by the government to rise us out of animal behavior? Locke said our natural rights are Life, Liberty, and Property. Are there “natural rights”? Furthermore, Thomas Jefferson turned “property” into “the pursuit of happiness”. Why did the founder of America equate “property” with “the pursuit of happiness”? What are these “unalienable” rights? Is the “pursuit of happiness” a positive or negative right (see my Lecture this week and the second resource in the week 7 module)? ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXOEkj6Jz44)
