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Debate Info

8
19
Yes No
Debate Score:27
Arguments:15
Total Votes:37
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 Yes (6)
 
 No (9)

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ChuckHades(3197) pic



Do the dead have rights?

Just wondered, depending on the outcome, there's a follow up debate too.

Yes

Side Score: 8
VS.

No

Side Score: 19
2 points

I find it interesting when debates are brought along about what does have rights and what doesn't.

So I'll just say this: rights are made up. No one has objective rights. rights are granted to you by other people who like to tell you what to do. Rights are bounded by our language and are merely a way of trying to figure out how people should interact with each other.

So the dead having rights or not really just depends on the people in charge. That's all rights ever came down to.

Either way, they're useless. The dead or animals having rights is just about as useless as any of you people thinking that you have rights.

Just the idea of fighting for rights is basically saying "hey people, we want you to have control over us but also want to give us things that you can't control." And then when we start off with the basics (like Constitutional rights), the people, for some dumb reason, think that this means it's okay to give government even more power while also granting more rights.

For some strange fuckin' reason, the more rights we have the more rights we don't have. It's like racism. Racism really only exists when we start talking about it all the time.

So to skip a bunch of things I could write to help guide your brains in what I'm getting at, I kind of just want to answer the damn question and hope to God that you all have an idea of what I'm saying:

The dead having rights is irrelevant if we are all more concerned about our personal well-being. Once someone dies, whatever "rights" they may have won't even matter because they will no longer, themselves, be concerned about it. Does this mean that the dead don't have rights? No, it means that the dead don't care if they do. And if they do, well, I suppose that would matter to us individuals as much as rocks caring if they do.

Side: Yes
1 point

rights are made up. No one has objective rights. rights are granted to you by other people...

Very good point, and since we choose to treat the dead with respect, that means that we've given them the right to be treated with respect.

Side: Yes
1 point

I don't really have a reason. I just think they do....................................................... this has to be 50 characters long before i can post in so im doing this.........................................................................................

Side: Yes
1 point

Rights to be burried, not abused, left alone, and with a grave marker, yes. However, there are exceptions. For instance, lost, body can't be acessed, etc...

Other then that every body has the right to be burried.

Side: Yes

I will opine that their bodies should not be removed from their graves.

Side: Yes
1 point

"Rights" are defined as "legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement." The dead don't aren't really entitled to freedom or entitlement. Apart from having a bit of respect for those who've died, I'd say no.

Side: No

They don't have as many rights as a live person. But they should have a right (not a plural) to a funeral.

Side: No
1 point

Why would the dead have rights when they are dead? Of course they don't have rights because they are dead and not living.

This is a pointless debate.

Side: No

Ignoring srom's extremely stupid and ignorant statement, I think that this is a profoundly difficult question to answer.

First, by asking if the dead have rights, are we asking about persons who have lived before and are dead or are we asking about humans who are not alive. Distinguishing between the two would differentiate between whether or not humans like say the late Benjamin Franklin (to give a completely random example) have rights vis-a-vis a foetus (an example of a human who is not alive).

Next, does such a question presuppose that persons or, more generally, humans have rights in the first place? If it does, then why should we make such an assumption a priori? If it doesn't, then why not?

And finally, if we were to say that rights exist at all, then what kind of rights exist? What rights do persons or humans who are alive have?

These are profoundly deep questions and implications that cannot be dismissed.

For the sake of this argument, I will assume that persons who are alive do have rights. I would then argue that the difference between those persons who are alive versus those who are dead would be the idea of sentience. If a human is not sentient, then I do not think that he/she can claim to have rights to anything at all.

Side: No
ThePyg(6738) Disputed
2 points

foetus (an example of a human who is not alive).

A fetus is alive, whether it's human or not is what would be in question.

These are profoundly deep questions and implications that cannot be dismissed.

More so guidelines for a debate you wish you were having.

If a human is not sentient, then I do not think that he/she can claim to have rights to anything at all.

To be clear, what you're saying is that what grants rights is sentience?

Side: Yes
1 point

Ignoring srom's extremely stupid and ignorant statement, I think that this is a profoundly difficult question to answer.

Lol, I'm so glad you're back.

Side: No
1 point

I don't believe they do. But their families do have rights and if a family wants a burial, then the dead body gets a burial. End of story.

Overall, I think it's a matter of respect for the dead, not rights.

Side: No
1 point

I dont think the Dead have rights per se because rights are normally associated with the Living but there are laws in place protecting the Dead (eg: Necrophilia being illegal, not using a Dead body for medical research without prior consent etc) which kind of work the same as the Living having rights but I think this is more in line with showing respect to the Dead and the last wishes of the person involved

Side: No

Rights are really only concerned with the living; hence, life, liberty and property.

Side: No

When you're dead, your body isn't yours anymore, it doesn't matter what happens to it. Even if you believe in an afterlife, surely it doesn't matter what happens to your corporeal form once your "soul" or whatever has moved on from it. And if you think it does, your god is a bastard.

Side: No