Cambridge University Press, 2004. — 241 p.
An Introduction to Rights is the only accessible and readable 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 Revolution. It deals with historical figures, including Grotius, Paley, Hobbes, Locke, Bentham, Burke, Godwin, Mill, and Hohfeld, and covers contemporary debates, including consequentialism versus contractualism.
Rights come in various types – human, moral, civil, political, and legal – and claims about who has a right, and to what, are often contested.What are rights? Are they timeless and universal, or merely conventional? How are they related to other morally significant values, such as well-being, autonomy, and community? Can animals have rights? Or fetuses? Do we have a right to do as we please so long aswe do not harmothers? ProfessorWilliam A. Edmundson addresses these issues from both philosophical and legal perspectives.
As an undergraduate text,An Introduction toRights iswell-suited to introductions to political philosophy, moral philosophy, and ethics. It may also be used in courses on political theory in departments of political science and government and in courses on legal theory in law schools.
William A. Edmundson is Professor of Law and Philosophy at Georgia State University. He is the author of Three Anarchical Fallacies (Cambridge) and is co-editor of The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory.