Natural Rights Theories: Their Origin and Development - Softcover

Tuck, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521285097 ISBN 13: 9780521285094

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1982

Synopsis

This book shows how political argument in terms of rights and natural rights began in medieval Europe, and how the theory of natural rights was developed in the seventeenth century after a period of neglect in the Renaissance. Dr Tuck provides a new understanding of the importance of Jean Gerson in the formation of the theories, and of Hugo Grotius in their development; he also restores the Englishman John Selden's ideas to the prominence they once enjoyed, and shows how Thomas Hobbes's political theory can best be understood against this background. In general, the book enables us to understand more fully the characteristics of the natural rights theories available to the men of the Enlightenment, and thereby to appreciate the complexity and equivocal nature of modern right theories.

About this title

Book Description

Shows how political argument regarding rights and natural rights began in medieval Europe and how the theory of natural rights was developed in the 17th century. Examines the importance of Jean Gerson and Hugo Grotius to the formation and development of the theories and ideas of Selden, Hobbes, and Locke.

About the Author

Richard Tuck is Professor of Government at Harvard University. He is the author of Natural Rights Theories (1979) and Philosophy and Government 1572-1651 (1993), and has produced editions of Hobbes's Leviathan and (with Michael Silverthorne) De Cive.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1982
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521285097
• ISBN 13: 9780521285094
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 196