Micha Ghertner on the consequences of positive rights and equality of resources.#

Positive rights are different. If I have a positive right to, say, food, every other moral agent in the world has an obligation to provide me with food if I need it and if they are capable of giving it. Your obligation to provide me with food does not end simply because lots of other people refuse to fulfill their moral obligation. After all, if lots of other people decided to violate their obligation to refrain from committing murder, that wouldn't let you off the hook. Similarly, your obligation to provide me with food does not end simply because you have given more to charity than the average person. In both cases, your obligation to provide me with food does not end until I am provided with food, regardless of who does the giving.

Thus, positive rights are difficult to respect. Every new child born into the world brings with him new obligations for everyone else. We live in a world where, unfortunately, the vast majority of people are much worse off than anyone reading this blog. These people all need food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education, and protection from aggression just as much as we do. If any of us truly believed in positive rights, we would willingly deprive ourselves of all of the luxuries we enjoy daily and live a life of near-poverty in order to fulfill our ethical obligations to those much poorer than ourselves. But few, if any of us actually do this, which makes me skeptical when anyone claims to believe in positive rights.

Moxie: "Only men with the right brain power, looks and attitude will make the cut for the mox-VRWC eugenics program. Breeding applications accepted below. Only those willing to produce children who'll take over the world will be considered."#

In my History of Mathematics textbook, by David M. Burton, I came across this entertaining quote about an early French university professor.#

There is an oft-told tale that when the theological writings of Peter Abelard (1079 - 1142) were condemned by the Church, the king of France suddenly forbade Abelard to teach in his lands. On hearing the news, Abelard climbed a tree and his students flocked to hear him from below. When the king then prohibited him from teaching in the air, Abelard began lecturing in a boat; at this point the king relented. [pg. 285]