Really? If you've got a strong stomach and some time to kill, search the web for Nazi medical experiments.
Sick, sick stuff.
“In all seriousness, such an experiment would be a violation of the child’s rights.”
Then you admit that there is a some magical line out there and your argument is significantly weakened.
I admit no such thing.
There is no more reason to support some notion of Randian natural rights that exist on their own than there is morality based on a Holy Book.
"Randian"? What is this, the National Review?
Is this like calling everyone who supports evolution a "Darwinist", thereby attempting to ignore the mountains of research and refinement that have taken place since the Origin of Species?
Anywho.
The difference is that Objectivist morality is based on reality and Christian morality (and Jewish and Islamic) is based on a 'supernatural' reality.
The church does not control the state in such a system.
We'll make sure it stays that way.
I am deeply disappointed. I expected an intelligent discussion and what I got was a kneejerk, defensive argument. Shame. To sink to your level for a moment and make it personal, I’ll just point out that Rand had the same problem when having to confront the fact that parts of her belief system were just as mystical as those she decried as mystics.
Your saying that Objectivist morality is based on reality doesn’t make it so anymore than a YEC saying the Earth is 6,000 years old is based on reality makes it so. You can’t just say rights exist, loosely base your conclusion on years of history, and call it a day. Rights are inherently abstract concepts. If nothing is supernatural, then the reality is that “natural rights’ are nothing more than mere constructions by the majority and a matter of convenience, not reality. Under such a system, you murdering someone is not morally wrong. It may cause a problem for civilization if done on a large scale, but there really is nothing wrong with you doing what you can if you can get away with it.
“Really? If you’ve got a strong stomach and some time to kill, search the web for Nazi medical experiments.”
Uh, I’m aware of Nazi medical experiments. I wasn’t aware of the Skinner box. My hypothetical was designed to introduce a situation where I thought a legitimate argument could be made that the research couldn’t be done another way. Most of the things researched by the Nazis can be done in a more humane manner.