Never permit your opponent to obscure the essential issues in a value debate by resorting to these invalid tactics. There is no substitute for a logical, well reasoned case. One person constitutes a majority, if that one person is right. Arguments from Rights We have discussed briefly the weakness of moral arguments based on utilitarianism and appeals to authority. In searching for a major premise that will support your argument, you will probably find that one based on natural rights is the most effective and immune from attack.
Rights always entail corresponding duties.
If I am the rightful owner of my car, then I have a right to it, and the car thief commits an unjust act when he attempts to steal it from me. One may visualize the function of rights in moral theory by imagining an invisible moral barrier surrounding every person. Rights function as a protective shield, beyond which others may not transgress without committing an unjust act. Most of the great moral crusades throughout history have rested on some version of rights. Every person, the anti-slavery theorists argued, has a natural right to his own body, mind, labor, and the fruits of one's labor.