badgenome said:
You have the right not to be murdered. You don't have a right to force other people to provide a living for you by sheer virtue of your need. Children are always a special case, and I don't think many people could fail to pity a child who resorts to stealing food to stay alive, but that doesn't make it ethically correct behavior even though it's certainly logical. |
You are not able to effectively argue, from a rights based framework against murder. Murder is what someone does to someone else. When you say murder is wrong, you speak of the person who does the act of murder, not the person who is recipient of the act. The basis of rights, represents the state a person is entitle to have, for being something. You aren't able to deduce ANYTHING that people should do for others based upon rights. In a right's based framework, which you are arguing, it is ethically wrong for a child to steal to survive, but it is ok for someone to not give to prevent the child from dying so they don't have to steal, under ANY situation. But then you have argued, without being able to show why, that murdering someone is wrong. Being able to prevent a death and not acting has NO basis in your framework as a the morally right thing to do, because you operate exclusively out of rights.
A rights-based framework is inheritantly selfish in nature, and results in people dying to due neglect, as your comment above has shown. It can't even begin to arrive at a situation like you see from the Gospels, for example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sheep_and_the_Goats
The text of the passage appears in Matthew's Gospel, and is the final portion of a section containing a series of parables. From Matthew 25:31–46 (WEB):
31"But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.34Then the King will tell those on his right hand, 'Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. 36I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.'37"Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? 38When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?'40"The King will answer them, 'Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' 41Then he will say also to those on the left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry, and you didn't give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; 43I was a stranger, and you didn't take me in; naked, and you didn't clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn't visit me.'44"Then they will also answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn't help you?'45"Then he will answer them, saying, 'Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you didn't do it to one of the least of these, you didn't do it to me.' 46These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
