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Is there to be found anywhere in the writings, lectures or interviews of Ayn Rand a precisely-formulated list of rights, with or without justifications or explanations? In other words, did she ever set forth an explicit list or suite of individual / human / political rights?

For example, is there in her literature something like this:

RIGHTS

  1. Life
  2. Liberty
  3. Assembly
  4. Property

etc.

I know that she addressed and formulated rights in different works, but I would like to know if she ever set everything down together in one place.

Additionally, if such a formulation were to be made, would it properly belong to her ethics or to her politics?

Gilliatt the Crafty
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1 Answers1

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I would like to know if she ever set everything down together in one place.

She did, in her book, The Virtue of Selfishness, essay Man's Rights. The essay is available in its entirety here, at Ayn Rand Institute's website.

To avoid from writing an essentially link-only answer, this is the most relevant bit:

A “right” is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. There is only one fundamental right (all the others are its consequences or corollaries): a man’s right to his own life. [snip] The concept of a “right” pertains only to action — specifically, to freedom of action. It means freedom from physical compulsion, coercion or interference by other men.

if such a formulation were to be made, would it properly belong to her ethics or to her politics?

“Rights” are a moral concept — the concept that provides a logical transition from the principles guiding an individual’s actions to the principles guiding his relationship with others — the concept that preserves and protects individual morality in a social context — the link between the moral code of a man and the legal code of a society, between ethics and politics. Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law.

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