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Prosperity and rights, but no morals

By Mirko Bagaric - posted Tuesday, 30 May 2006


Rights are seductive because they are individualising claims and seem to give us a protective sphere. They appeal to those of us who have a “me, me, me” approach to life.

The problem with rights is that they limit our moral horizons to ourselves - the moral compass is suspended in an inward direction. But buried only slightly beneath such an approach are the inescapable realities that as people we live in communities; communities are merely the sum of a number of other individuals; and the actions of one person (exercising his or her rights) can have a (negative) effect on the interests of others.

If you want to know what interests we have, the answer is simple. It is a matter of biology and sociology, not misguided social and legal engineering. To attain any degree of flourishing we need the right to life, physical integrity, liberty, food, shelter, property and access to good health care and education.

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Talk of rights beyond these interests is destructive of human well-being.

The most dispiriting aspect of the rights wave is that it has swept from our psyche the most important concept that is central to our well-being: the common good, measured in terms of net human flourishing.

The common good is a notion that has become a relic of the past. We are paying heavily for the disinterest shown towards others. As with most short term pursuits, it is self-defeating. Despite the fact that we have more than three times the real purchasing power of our grandparents, the rate of depression has also increased almost exponentially during the same period.

No doubt some of the reason for this is that we now have better diagnostic tools for depression. The other main reason is that the culture of selfishness that pervades our moral thinking, where we always want things our way, without assuming responsibility for the impact their decisions have on others.

Individual happiness will continue to suffer until the common good is dusted off and becomes the central building block of our moral psyche and discourse.

This will require each individual to think of others before they act. Sure this will test our analytical skills and exercise our sympathy gland, but what we lose out here will be more than made up by the fact that others will factor us into their decision making. Sometimes to gain a lot you have to give a little.

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It will mean caring less about fictitious middle class concerns such as the right to privacy and reputation. But the upside is well worth it. When you are in desperate help of the necessities of life, it is likely that someone will get busy about your business and help out.

A commitment to the common good will forge a community and an interdependency within which will be woven the seeds of increased human well-being.

The right not to care about others needs to be replaced by an obligation to assist others in serious trouble, when assistance would immensely help them at minimal inconvenience or little danger to ourselves.

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About the Author

Mirko Bagaric, BA LLB(Hons) LLM PhD (Monash), is a Croatian born Australian based author and lawyer who writes on law and moral and political philosophy. He is dean of law at Swinburne University and author of Australian Human Rights Law.

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