Human Rights, Ownership, and the Individual (Hardcover)

Rowan Cruft

ISBN 10: 0198793367 / ISBN 13: 9780198793366

Published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019

About this Item

Hardcover. 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 importantimplications 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 particularparty (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. Theresult 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 doubtfulabout property as an individual right. Rowan Cruft develops an original theory of rights that partially vindicates this concept's central place in modern moral, political and legal thinking. He defends human rights law as institutionalising pre-legal moral rights, and he calls into question property as an individual right. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780198793366

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Human Rights, Ownership, and the Individual (Hardcover)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198793367
• ISBN 13: 9780198793366
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Rowan Cruft, University of Stirling

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 (Oxford 2011) and of Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights (Oxford 2015). His research examines the nature and justification of rights and duties, and their role in shaping a democratic public sphere.