Rethinking Rights : Historical, Political, and Philosophical Perspectives

by Frohnen, Bruce P.; Grasso, Kenneth L.

• ISBN13: 9780826218209
• ISBN10: 0826218202
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-26
• Publisher: Univ of Missouri Pr

Summary

"This book shows that the identification of rights with contemporary liberal democracy is inaccurate and questions the assumptions of many politicians and scholars that rights are self-evident in all circumstances and will overcome any conflicts of thought or interest. Rethinking Rights offers a radical reconsideration of the origins, nature, and role of rights in public life, interweaving perspectives of leading scholars in history, political science, philosophy, and law to emphasize rights as a natural outgrowth of a social understanding of human nature and dignity." "Steering a middle course between radical individualist and extreme egalitarian views, Rethinking Rights proposes a new philosophy of rights appropriate to today's world, showing that rights need to be rethought in a manner that brings them back into accord with human nature and experience so that they may again truly serve the human good. By engaging both the history of rights in the West and the multicultural challenge of rights in an international context, Rethinking Rights offers a provocative and coherent new argument to advance the field of rights studies."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Rights in a Multicultural Age	p. 1
Historical Roots of Modern Rights: Before Locke and After	p. 34
Natural Rights and Social Contract in Burke and Bellarmine	p. 58
Natural Law, Natural Rights, and the Declaration of Independence	p. 80
Individual and Group Rights: Self-Government and Claims of Right in Historical Practice	p. 106
The Ontology of Rights	p. 132
The Historical and Communal Roots of Legal Rights and the Erosion of the State	p. 153
Reintegrating Rights: Catholicism, Social Ontology, and Contemporary Rights Discourse	p. 177
Toward a Social Pluralist Theory of Institutional Rights	p. 212
Epilogue: Toward an Integrative Vision	p. 241
Notes on the Contributors	p. 252
Index	p. 255
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