An Introduction to Rights

by Edmundson, William A.

• ISBN13: 9781107648197
• ISBN10: 110764819X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-01-23
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

An Introduction to Rights is a readable and accessible introduction to the history, logic, moral implications, and political tendencies of the idea of rights. It is organized chronologically and discusses important historical events such as the French and American Revolutions. It treats a range of historical figures, including Grotius, Paley, Hobbes, Locke, Bentham, Burke, Godwin, Douglass, Mill, and Hohfeld, and relates the concept of rights to contemporary debates such as consequentialism versus contractualism. This thoroughly updated second edition includes a new preface and expands the discussion of the surprising role that slavery has played in the history of rights. It includes new material on egalitarianism, distributive justice, and what the demand for equal rights means.

Author Biography

William A. Edmundson is Regents' Professor of Law and Philosophy at Georgia State University. He is the author of Three Anarchical Fallacies (Cambridge), co-editor of The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory, and a subject editor for The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Table of Contents

Preface to the First Edition	p. xi
A Note on the Second Edition	p. xiii
A Note on Citation Form	p. xv
List of Tables	p. xvi
The First Expansionary Era
The Prehistory of Rights	p. 3
The Rights of Man: The Enlightenment	p. 13
"Mischievous Nonsense"?	p. 36
Into the Nineteenth Century: Consolidation and Retrenchment	p. 51
The Conceptual Neighborhood of Rights by Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld	p. 71
The Second Expansionary Era
The Universal Declaration, and a Revolt Against Utilitarianism	p. 85
The Nature of Rights: "Choice" Theory and "Interest" Theory	p. 96
A Right to Do Wrong? Two Conceptions of Moral Rights	p. 108
The Pressure of Consequentialism	p. 116
What Is Interference?	p. 131
The Future of Rights	p. 140
Conclusion	p. 160
Bibliographical Notes	p. 163
References	p. 167
Index	p. 173
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