All the fine principles of human right are really based on human needs. The word principle is defined as "a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine, or assumption." Principles guide our lives. And in the US principles are supposed to be the "Principal" source of the guidelines and laws which govern our nation. We are a Republic founded on principles of democracy and freedom.
Liberty is the exercise of freedom. It is the easiest of "rights" to understand because everyone values the "freedom to do as one pleases." The goal of all the other "rights" we assert is to secure our "own liberty" by teaming with others to establish functional Just, functional and nurturative systems where we can be free to exercise our liberties to our own best purpose. Liberty is about the freedom of the individual.
Most principles exist "a priori" but they are "discovered" through human thought. Comprehensive things are things we can generalize from example (history, scenarios, experience, experimentation). Fundamental things are things at the "base of other things." They are "groupings of abstract things;" "classes" that "inform" or provide the basis for other "things." Some principles are asserted on the basis of these generalizations and were not known as principles until they were asserted. However, they were "inherent" in reality itself even before discovery. People understood the value of freedom long before it was made a fundamental principle. Nobody knows the value of liberty more than those who experience its opposite.
I've decided to reformulate this material into short posts so that people can follow the reasoning one step at a time. If the material is familiar to you, I applaud you, and ask you to bear with me while I hash out this. If it isn't, I'm talking to you.
Posted by cholte at May 2, 2007 07:51 AM