The Clayton State University Philosophy faculty invites Clayton State students, faculty, staff and the public to the next installment of the Occasional Papers series, featuring Clayton State Lecturer in Philosophy Dr. Aaron Dopf’s “Do Our Rights Come From God?”
Dopf’s talk will be held in room UC262 of the James M. Baker University Center, from 11 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Oct. 24. The talk is free and open to the public.
As evidenced by the recent Republican convention and political debate, the notion that our rights come from God is a popular sentiment in modern American culture. But, what exactly does this slogan mean? This talk will address this question along with related ones regarding the philosophical and moral nature of rights.
Such questions will include: what are rights, and can they really be inalienable? Do rights even exist? If they do, what exactly is their essence and where do they come from? In order to answer these questions, Dopf will discuss competing views of morality and rights (including social contract theories, natural rights theories, and deontological ethics).The goal will be to resolve the question of whether our rights truly come from God or some other source… if they exist at all.