"This book takes a new look at the history of individual rights, focusing on how philosophers have written that history. Eleanor Curran argues that the turn to jurisprudence, after the philosophical rejection of natural rights, has resulted in an impoverished notion of rights as no more than claims and entitlements"--.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I: The History of Rights Theory
• Chapter 1: The Beginning: The Rise of the Idea of Natural Rights
  • The Background
    • The Subjective Turn
    • Ius and Dominium—Active and Passive Rights
  • The Relationship of Early Natural Rights Theories to Natural Law
  • Conflicting Views of the Relationship between Natural Rights and Natural Law
  • What Is New and Significant in the Notion of “Natural Rights?”
  • Examples from Early Writing on Natural Rights
  • Classical Natural Rights Theory—Hugo Grotius
    • Grotius on Rights
      • The Alienability of Natural Rights
      • Concluding Thoughts on Grotius
  • Natural Rights in Political Discourse
    • The Use of Natural Rights Arguments in the Political Writing of the English Civil War
      • Royalists
      • Parliamentarians
  • The Culmination of a Political Idea—John Locke’s Theory of Natural Rights
    • American Declaration of Independence—July 4, 1776
    • French Declaration of the Rights of Man
  • Notes
• Chapter 2: The Philosophical Discrediting of Natural Law and Natural Rights
  • Hume’s Attack on Natural Law
  • The Discrediting of Natural Law Spreads to Natural Rights
    • Marx’s Criticism of Individual Rights
  • The Defence of Natural Law and Natural Rights
  • Natural Rights Do Not Come from or Depend Upon Theories of Natural Law
  • Concluding Thoughts on the Philosophical Discrediting of Natural Law and Natural Rights
  • Notes
• Chapter 3: Does Hobbes Rather than Locke Provide a Forerunner to Modern Theories of Rights?
  • The Rights Theories of Hobbes and Locke as Written in History
  • Hobbesian Rights and Duties
  • Rights in Locke’s Theory
  • Rights in Hobbes’s Theory
  • Relationship to Modern Rights Theories
    • Relationship to Current Discussions of Rights
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
• Chapter 4: The Jurisprudential Turn in Rights Theorising
  • Rights in Law
  • Hohfeld’s Analysis of Rights
    • Hohfeld’s Categories of Rights
      • Claim
      • Privilege (Liberty)
      • Power
      • Immunity
    • The Significance of the Claim Right
  • Complex Rights
    • The Significance of Hohfeld’s Analysis
    • Theories of Rights
      • The “Will” or “Choice” Theory of Rights
      • The “Interest” or “Benefit” Theory of Rights
    • Established Criticism of the Will and Interest Theories
    • Changes in the Philosophy of Rights
  • Notes
• Chapter 5: Reading Historical Writing on Rights: The Distorting Influence of Hohfeld
  • The Hohfeldian Reading of Hobbes’s Theory of Rights
  • Notes
• Part II: Current and Future Rights Theory
• Chapter 6: The Continuing Dominance of Hohfeld
  • Questioning the Application of Hohfeld’s Scheme to Moral and Political Rights
  • Arguments against the Application of the Hohfeldian analysis to Moral and Political Rights
    • Rights (claims) are Distinct from Liberties (privileges)
  • Must there be Strict Correlativity of Rights and Duties for Moral and Political Rights?
  • Rights Express Values within a Theory of Political Morality
  • Notes
• Chapter 7: Current Theories of Rights: The Will and Interest Theories and Theories of Human Rights
  • Will and Interest Theories
  • Moving beyond the Impasse
  • Finding Value in Rights Theory—Human Rights
  • Suggested Grounding Concepts for Human Rights
    • Agency/Autonomy
    • Fundamental Interests and Dignity
    • Basic Needs
    • A Good Life
  • Assessing Competing Accounts of Grounding Concepts for Human Rights
  • The Relationship of Human Rights Theorists to Hohfeld
  • Notes
• Chapter 8: Thoughts for Future Rights Theorising
  • The Current State of Play
  • Preliminary Thoughts for a New Way of Theorising Individual Rights
    • Rights of Assertion
    • Rights of Aspiration
    • Rights of Self-Preservation and Well-Being
    • Rights of Legal or Social Organisation
  • The Justification of Individual Rights
    • The Concept of an Individual Right
    • Human Nature—The Kind of Beings Humans Are
    • The Moral Aspect to Duties Upholding Rights
  • Rights
  • Concluding Thoughts
  • Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author