The Origin,
Differentiation and Role of Rights
by Thomas Berry
Introduction: In 2001, Thomas Berry
published a groundbreaking document that placed human governance and rights
into a new context. “The Origin, Differentiation and Role of Rights” articulates
ten new principles for understanding rights.
Most significantly,
Berry asserts that rights neither originate from nor belong exclusively in the
human realm. “Rights originate where existence originates,” states the first
sentence of the principles. The natural world derives rights from the same
source as humans: from the Universe that brought them into existence. From that
basic premise flows the idea that human rights are subset of a constellation of
rights belonging to every member of the Earth community.
Berry’s first four
principles address the origin of rights in the Universe and on Earth. The next
four principles, Principles Five though Eight, elaborate on the nature of
rights for different members of the Earth community. The final two principles
stress the vast network of interconnected relationships that the entire
community depends upon for survival, nourishment, and creative unfolding. -- Liz Marshall
1.
Rights originate where
existence originates. That which determines existence determines rights.
2.
Since it has no further
context of existence in the phenomenal order, the universe is self-referent in
its being and self-normative in its activities. It is also the primary referent
in the being and activities of all derivative modes of being.
3.
The universe is a
communion of subjects, not a collection of objects. As subjects, the component
members of the universe are capable of having rights.
4.
The natural world on the
planet Earth gets its rights from the same source that humans get their rights,
from the universe that brought them into being.
5.
Every component of the
Earth community has three rights. The right to be, the right to habitat, and
the right to fulfill its role in the ever-renewing process of the Earth
community.
6.
All rights are species
specific and limited. Rivers have river rights. Birds have bird rights. Insects
have insect rights. Humans have human rights. Difference of rights is
qualitative not quantitative. The rights of an insect would be of no use to a
tree or fish.
7.
Human rights do not
cancel out the rights of other modes of being to exist in their natural state.
Human property rights are not absolute. Property rights are simply a special
relationship between a particular human "owner" and a particular piece
of "property" for the benefit of both.
8.
Species exist in the
form of individuals and groupings--flock, herds, schools of fish and so forth.
Rights refer to individuals and groupings, not simply in a general way to
species.
9.
These rights as
presented here establish the relationships that the various components of the
Earth have toward each other. The planet earth is a single community bound
together with interdependent relationships. Every component of the Earth
community is immediately or mediately dependent on every other member of the
Community for the nourishment and assistance it needs for its own survival.
This mutual nourishment, which includes predator-prey relationship, is integral
with the role that each component of the Earth has within the comprehensive
community of existence.
10.
In a special manner
humans have not only a need for but a right of access to the natural world, not
only to supply their physical needs but also to provide the wonder needed by
human intelligence, the beauty needed by human imagination, and the intimacy
needed by the human emotions.
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