Pragmatism, rights, and democracy [electronic resource] / Beth J. Singer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Singer, Beth J., 1927-

Contributor:

American Council of Learned Societies.

Series:

American philosophy series, 11.

Fordham American philosophy.

ACLS Humanities E-Book.

American philosophy series, no. 11

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human rights.

Communities.

Individualism.

Pragmatism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 207 p. )

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2019.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The author's theory of rights was developed in an earlier work. This successor volume includes applications, lectures, replies to critics, and clarifications. For the author, rights exist only if they are embedded in the operative practices of a community. People have a right in a community if their claim is acknowledged, and if they would acknowledge similar claims by others. This account contrasts with theories of natural rights, which state that humans have rights by virtue of being human. It also differs from Kantian attempts to derive rights from the necessary conditions of rationality. While denying that rights exist independently of a community's practices, the text maintains that rights to personal autonomy and authority ought to exist in all communities. Group rights, an anathema among individualistic theories, are a valuable institution. The work's discussion of rights appropriate for minority communities is particularly illuminating as a model of careful reasoning.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [187]-195) and index.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on April 26, 2019).

ISBN:

0-8232-8485-9