Rights from wrongs : a secular theory of the origins of rights / Alan Dershowitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dershowitz, Alan M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human rights.

Civil rights.

Physical Description:

ix, 261 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Basic Books, [2004]

Summary:

From one of the preeminent legal scholars of modern times and the author of "Supreme Injustice" comes a completely original answer to one of the most difficult questions in legal philosophy: What is the source of human rights?

Contents:

Introduction: Where do rights come from?

I: The sources of rights: What are rights?

Is God the source of rights?

Is Nature the source of rights?

Are there other "external" sources of rights?

Do constitutional democracies really need an external theory of rights?

Do we need to invent an external source of rights

even if it does not really exist?

Is natural law a helpful or harmful fiction?

What, then, is the source of rights?

II: Some challenges to experience as the source of rights: Is there always a right answer?

If rights do not come from God or Nature, how are they different from mere preferences?

Does the experiential approach confuse philosophy with sociology?

Can rights produce wrongs?

Is the debate over external sources of rights a liberal-conservative issue?

III: Applying the experiential theory of rights: Can experiential rights check the abuses of majority rule?

Is there a right "to life"?

Is there a right not to be censored by government?

Is there a right to have church and state separated?

Is there a right to emigrate and/or immigrate?

Do animals have rights?

Do dead people have rights in their organs? Conclusion: The future of rights.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-250) and index.

ISBN:

0465017134

OCLC:

56404710