Unalienable Rights

by Peter Saint-Andre

2024-06-16

Thinking recently about brotherhood and pluralism in an American context spurred me to reflect on the American creed expressed so succinctly in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

But what makes a certain right unalienable? And are other rights alienable?

Apparently the distinction between alienable and unalienable rights was first drawn by Francis Hutcheson in his Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (1725), where he asserted that a right is alienable (literally, "otherable") only if it meets two conditions: (1) "If the Alienation be within our natural Power, so that it be possible for us in Fact to transfer our Right." (2) "It must appear, that to transfer such Rights may serve some valuable Purpose."

For example, your right to a legitimately acquired piece of property is alienable, since if you sell the property to me then by that very act you transfer the right over to me.

By contrast, consider the rights proclaimed by the Declaration:

  1. Your right to your own life is unalienable because you can't sell yourself into slavery, nor would there ever be a "valuable purpose" in doing so.
  2. On some construals, your right to liberty (e.g., liberty of thought, judgment, feeling, opinion, belief) is also unalienable because it's impossible for someone else to think or judge or feel or form opinions or beliefs for you - these are inherently capacities and activities of individuals.
  3. Similarly, you are the only person who can pursue your own happiness and fulfillment in life - it's not within anyone else's power to do that even though we are social beings, for happiness and fulfillment are in large measure constituted by the pursuit itself. Thus this right is unalienable, too.

To my mind, it's significant that all three of these unalienable rights are broadly grounded in a conception of human personhood and human action. Although that conception is not uniquely American (since its sources include British law, Christian religion, Enlightenment thinking, ancient history, and classical philosophy), it was uniquely expressed in the ideals of the American founding and thus perhaps can still strengthen the ties that bind Americans together, both today and in the future.

(Cross-posted at philosopher.coach.)

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