[Avodah] Rights in halakhah

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Zev Sero wrote:
> Except that in rights-based philosophies, at least those in
> the category of "natural law", recognise only negative rights;
> i.e. each person has the right *not* to have anyone else do
> certain things to him...

R' Micha Berger responded:
> Locke wrote about the (positive) rights to Life, Liberty and
> Property, it is his philosophy which shapted the US, and I'm
> saying that that's a major piece to the prevelance of the
> culture of entitlement in these parts.

I know nothing about Locke's philosophy. But when you talk about a rights-based society leading to a culture of entitlement, the rights which come to my mind are "positive rights" like Welfare, Social Security, or Unemployment Insurance.

In contrast, rights to life, liberty, and property, seem like negative rights that RZS referred to: others are not allowed to hurt my life, restrict my liberty, or take my property. But they are under no obligation to heal me, or help me, or support me.

Akiva Miller

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