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Why you don't have a “perfect right” to anything

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Abstract

This paper demonstrates why the kind of rights usually presumed in assertive training most probably do not exist and why acting as if such rights do exist proves problematic. It contrasts these improbable rights with legal rights which do exist for some people in some societies. It concludes by suggesting an alternative scheme, The Picnic Mentality, for dealing with problems others have attempted to address using the concept of rights.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Institute for RationalEmotive Therapy & Rational Effectiveness Training, USA

    Harold B. Robb III Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Harold B. Robb III Ph.D.
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Additional information

Hank Robb is Executive Director for the Pacific Institute for RET and Training Coordinator for the Counseling Psychology Program, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon.

I wish to thank four anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of this article.

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Robb, H.B. Why you don't have a “perfect right” to anything. J Rational-Emot Cognitive-Behav Ther 10, 259–270 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01062379

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01062379

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