Overview

Is it defensible to use the concept of a right? Can we justify rights' central place in modern moral and legal thinking, or does the concept unjustifiably side-line those who do not qualify as right-holders? Rowan Cruft develops a new account of rights. Moving beyond the traditional 'interest theory' and 'will theory', he defends a distinctive 'addressive' approach that brings together duty-bearer and right-holder in the first person. This view has important implications for the idea of 'natural' moral rights - that is, rights that exist independently of anyone's recognizing that they do. Cruft argues that only moral duties grounded in the good of a particular party (person, animal, group) are naturally owed to that party as their rights. He argues that human rights in law and morality should be founded on such recognition-independent rights. In relation to property, however, matters are complicated because much property is justifiable only by collective goods beyond the rightholder's own good. For such property, Cruft argues that a new non-rights property system, that resembles markets but is not conceived in terms of rights, would be possible. The result of this study is a partial vindication of the rights concept that is more supportive of human rights than many of their critics (from left or right) might expect, and is surprisingly doubtful about property as an individual right.

Full Product Details

Author:   Rowan Cruft (Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Philosophy, University of Stirling) ,  Rowan Cruft (University of Stirling)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.40cm , Height: 1.70cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.442kg
ISBN:  

9780192855336

ISBN 10:   0192855336
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   20 October 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Preface 1: Introduction Part I: Rights as Addressive Duties 2: Rights' Elusive Relation to Interests 3: Rights' Elusive Relation to Powers 4: Rights' Relation to the First and Second Person 5: Rights and Interests Revisited 6: From Directed Duties to Rights Part II: Human Rights for the Right-Holder's Sake 7: Teleological Groundings of Rights and Duties 8: The Individual's Place in the Grounding of her Rights 9: The 'Human' in Human Rights and the Law 10: Human Rights as Everyone's Business Part III: Property Rights for the Common Good 11: Introducing Property Rights 12: Modest Property Rights for the Right-Holder's Sake 13: Property Rights for the Common Good 14: Rights Protecting Performance of Duties 15: Conclusion: A Partial Vindication of Rights

Reviews

The very first question philosophers of rights need to answer is why we possess the language and practice of directed duties in the first place. What makes Rowan Cruft's Human Rights, Ownership, and the Individual such a critical contribution to the philosophy of rights is that it provides a complete and thought-provoking answer to that first question. * Guido Fornaroli, Law and Philosophy * a valuable and original contribution to the recent philosophical literature on rights and human rights . . . ambitious and wide-ranging . . . many topics of great interest and importance on which he has advanced the state of the art . . . His book is required reading for anyone doing serious work on rights and human rights. * Allen Buchanan and Gopal Sreenivasan, Ethics * a rich and carefully structured book, written with clarity and integrity . . . The author's appetite for argument is formidable, his intelligence is obvious, and the analysis offered is always thought-provoking and often subtle. While I find myself disagreeing with some of the author's conclusions, the central ideas which drive the argument of the book represent an important advance in the literature. * Nigel Simmons, American Journal of Jurisprudence * Cruft manages to do what few philosophers are able to do: offer a genuine competitor to extant theories of rights in general, and human rights in particular. The book is replete with arresting insights and does not shy away - on the contrary - from reaching controversial conclusions on (in particular) the grounds and scope of property rights. Cruft's ability to conduct forensic dissections of the literature without losing sight of his overarching aims is extraordinary. With this book, he cements his status as a leading legal, moral and political philosopher. * Cecile Fabre, University of Oxford * This is the most original, rigorous, and wide-ranging book on rights in many years. Rowan Cruft makes fundamental advances in describing how rights do - and should - structure our moral, legal, and social relations to each other. * Leif Wenar, King's College London * In the face of criticisms of the concept of rights as no longer useful for political theory and practice, Cruft's masterfully argued book reveals their power and their humanitarian import. His work is engaging, original, and profoundly important in these difficult times. * Carol C. Gould, City University of New York *

Author Information

Rowan Cruft is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Stirling. His work focuses on the nature and moral foundation of rights and duties. He is the co-editor of Crime, Punishment, and Responsibility (OUP, 2011) and of Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights (OUP, 2015). His research examines the nature and justification of rights and duties, and their role in shaping a democratic public sphere.

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