[JohnGalt]

You stated your belief, contrary to my belief, that rights are universal, they exist like gravity or water.

However, these rights, when violated, still exist.

What practical value is a right that merely exists in the abstract but has no earthly value? Your rights are strictly theoretical and cannot be proved; in Western traditions if a theory cannot be falsified (i.e. the opposite can not be argued) then its not a theory.

[exodus]

What practical value is a right that merely exists in the abstract but has no earthly value? Your rights are strictly theoretical and cannot be proved
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Self-defense can easily be proven, and has been. It's instinct. Even a man who's decided to kill himself by submerging himslf in water until he drowns will stand up when he runs out of air. It's an instinct, it's built in.

Property also has been proven. It's called territorialism in animals, "capitalism" in humans; the desire to own things.

[exodus]

"...in Western traditions if a theory cannot be falsified (i.e. the opposite can not be argued) then its not a theory."
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Even if a theory can be "proven," that doesn't mean it's true. Newton's theories were "proven" correct, until Einstein came up with a theory that "proved" Newton's theories wrong.

A theory is a working hypothesis, nothing more.