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From: ncg@ukc.UUCP (N.C.Gale)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Of Absolute Rightness
Message-ID: <4965@ukc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 11-Mar-85 07:51:37 EST
Article-I.D.: ukc.4965
Posted: Mon Mar 11 07:51:37 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 15-Mar-85 01:38:07 EST
References: <2530f327.264c@apollo.uucp>
Reply-To: ncg@ukc.UUCP (Nigel Gale)
Organization: Computing Laboratory, U of Kent at Canterbury, UK
Lines: 30
Summary: 

>
#Arndt:
>> How do you KNOW that there is no 'right'????
>
#Terry Dineen   UUCP:  ...{yale,uw-beaver,decvax!wanginst}!apollo!rps
>Just a feeling I have.  I can't figure out what it means (practically) to say
>things like: "X is right" or "Y's have these rights".  Some say that men have
>an inalienable right to life; however men are alienated from their lives all 
> the time: death squads, electric chairs.  Where'd their "rights" go?


Some time ago, I wrote an article which was graced by criticism from all
quarters. And deservedly so.  For it mentioned a concept I got from
a senile & very public magistrate (ex-) Lord Denning: Natural Justice.

Natural Justice is Right. It is everything that every thinking person
can look at, and say: that is right.

So there is no Natural Justice. For every aspect of Justice that Western,
Christianity-based morality interpretes as clearly Right, there is a
Culture or Political Doctrine which doesn't.

Therefore, Right must be the Right of some arbitrary grouping of people:
one dictator, the majority of the people, octagenarians etc.
And no two countries will come to the same decisions.


-Nigel Gale