Ethics

Many people say that the world doesn't owe you anything. Is that true? What responsibilities if any does a person have for his fellow human beings?

Comments

This is a very deep question! The answer depends upon the existence and scope of what are ofted called positive and negative rights. A negative right involves others having a duty to not do certain things. Arguably, the right to free speech is a negative right, for it involves others restraining themselves from silencing others. If you do have a right to free speech, the world owes you a certain amount of restraint and non-interference (e.g. presumably the right to free speech is not absolute and must be weighed agains other rights such as property rights, the right to life...). Positive rights involve positive duties that others have toward you. Arguably, the right to life would require the world to provide you food if you needed food to survive and this need was not voluntarily assumed (e.g. you did not voluntarily go on a hunger strike) and the world had surplus food.

There is controversy over the status of some rights and duties. For example, does everyone have a duty or a right to attain a certain level of education? Some, but not all philosophers have thought everyone has an at least prima facie duty to be educated. If so, do other people (or "the world") have a duty to assist in the education of persons?

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