Review:
Joel Feinberg started the discussion by letting us imagine Nowheresville—a world very much like our own except that no one or hardly anyone has rights. At first I don’t know any country called Nowheresville or if it is a country or not. Second, I can’t imagine or I don’t know if there really is a place where there is no right. When I research the net, I found out 3 meanings. First, it is a remote or isolated town or village. Second, it is a job, position, rank, etc., completely lacking in status, recognition, or a chance for advancement. Third, it is anything unrealistic, impractical, or useless. Imagine a world where you can’t claim what’s rightfully yours. And you can’t do anything about it because there is no law that would help you claim it. He tries to make the human beings in Nowheresville as attractive and as virtuous as possible. He said that, “Fill this imagined world with as much benevolence, compassion, sympathy and pity as it conveniently hold w/o strain. Now we can imagine men helping one another from compassionate motives.” He also gives duties in Nowheresville. Joel Feinberg introduces 2 practices. First, personal desert, I think what Joel Fienberg mean by personal desert is that a person deserve a good thing if he does a good job or presents a good personality and a person deserves a punishment if he does a bad job or has a bad personality. Second, sovereign right monopoly, what Joel Feinberg means by this is that a person has a duty to do something to other people but this duty is not owed to other people but to the law.
Chapter 9: The Nature and Value of Rights
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