jlamour wrote:simmo wrote:jlamour wrote:I'm saying human life itself depends on property rights.
This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. You're a philosophy major? No fucking way. I would wager both my balls that if you said that to any philosophy professor on the planet, they would laugh at you so hard that you'd have no choice put to turn and walk out the door of their office blubbing like a big old baby.
I never said I was a philosophy major and I guarantee a lot of philosophy professors would agree with this statement. Rights concern the scope of action a human can perform and property rights, besides the ownership of material, also concern the ability to use these materials for our benefit. Ultimately, without property rights and if the environmentalists had their way, you'd be digging at the soil with your bare hands trying to plant your crops. Let's see you live that way. Now come up with a rebuttal that actually refutes my argument and doesn't just call it stupid, genius.
Ok. I'm very, very far from being a genius, but one doesn't have to be to refute this kind of nonsense.
jlamour wrote:Rights concern the scope of action a human can perform
That's a very crude way of stating it, but rather than pick hairs I'll go with you on that one.
jlamour wrote:Property rights, besides the ownership of material, also concern the ability to use these materials for our benefit.
As above.
jlamour wrote:Ultimately, without property rights and if the environmentalists had their way, you'd be digging at the soil with your bare hands trying to plant your crops.
Cue hyperleap from reasonable argument to pure kneejerk reaction.
You had an argument that you could fairly argue, something along the lines of:
"property rights have to exist in order for any kind of industry or economy to exist."
This is a sensible enough statement - I'm not sure it's necessarily true, but I reckon you could certainly argue your corner with that as the basis, and many a philosophy professor might agree with you, yes.
But what is this assertion that environmentalists want me to be "digging at the soil with my bare hands" ? Where does this idea come from? I feel like an idiot stating the so staringly obvious, but this is not what any environmentalist I have ever spoken to, read the works of, seen on television or even had a goddamn drink in a bar with wants. They simply want the preservation of the natural environment to be a priority for individuals, politicians and industrialists. They very probably would like to see restrictions placed on carbon emissions by factories, transport, etc; they may well wish to outlaw certain areas of industry altogether due to their negative impact on the environment outweighing any potential good they might offer humankind; they may even come up with such offensive suggestions as yes, it might be a good idea to get down on your hands and knees and plant some seeds in your back garden, grow some potatoes yourself, why not. I have never once come accross an environmentalist calling for the total destruction of industry, the economy, or property rights. I would dismiss anyone advocating such a course of action as a crank. I would laugh at them like I laugh at you. Have they too not heard of sustainable forests? Renewable energy? Ethical consumerism? Ethical capitalism? Such tricky concepts for one so keen not to give a fuck about anything other than the individual as yourself, admittedly. I mean, fuck compassion. Fuck it right in the ass.
Moreover, your original, quite ridiculous statement was:
jlamour wrote:I'm saying human life itself depends on property rights.
Which is plainly and simply nonsense. You are suggesting that property rights are a necessary condition for human life. They are not. Human life existed before property rights, therefore property rights are not a necessary condition of human life. Real tough philosophical cookie, that one.
My guess is that you didn't mean to say what you actually said at all. And, I don't know, perhaps you might be lucky enough to come across a particularly kindly Philosophy professor, one who might be patient enough to say to you "I don't understand how that can be true, Jlamour. Is that really what you mean to say? Or do you mean to say something else?" But they'd probably already be sick of you spouting off the dismally constructed non-arguments you're so fond of, and just tell you to fuck off instead.
So yes, your statement is stupid - what it says is remarkably stupid. If it's not what you meant to say, maybe you should think before opening that humanitarian mouth of yours.