Theories of Rights

The nature, provenance and justification of rights are uncertain and disputed. The disagreements have centred on group rights and on whether rights have a universal application across different cultures and moral traditions. The essays in this work explore these and other related issues.
To those who invoke them, rights are powerful instruments for settling arguments in favour of the right-holders. But the nature, provenance and justification of rights are uncertain and disputed and there are doubts about whether rights should play a distinctive and fundamental role in moral and political discourse. More recent disgreements have centred on group rights and on whether rights have a universal application across different cultures and moral traditions. These and other related issues are explored in depth by the essays in this volume, which are mostly drawn from a wide range of journals in philosophy, politics and law.