Human Rights, Ownership, and the Individual

Rowan Cruft's ingenious addition to the canon of how to think about human rights, and rights more generally, rewrites the score * Zofia Stemplowska, Journal of Applied Philosophy *
Human Rights, Ownership, and the Individual is an extraordinarily ambitious book. Professor Cruft develops a sophisticated abstract framework for thinking about rights, which he then applies to various areas of ethical and legal life, especially human rights and property. This approach connects areas that might otherwise seem disparate by viewing them through the lens of the same philosophical abstractions * Nick Sage, Journal of Applied Philosophy *
...extremely interesting... * Giulio Fornaroli, Journal of Moral Philosophy *
The very first question philosophers of rights need to answer is why we possess the language and practice of "directed duties" in the first place. What makes Rowan Cruft's Human Rights, Ownership, and the Individual such a critical contribution to the philosophy of rights is that it provides a complete and thought-provoking answer to that first question. * Giulio Fornaroli, Law and Philosophy *
a valuable and original contribution to the recent philosophical literature on rights and human rights. . . . ambitious and wide-ranging . . . We have only been able to engage with a few of the many topics of great interest and importance on which he has advanced the state of the art. . . . His book is required reading for anyone doing serious work on rights and human rights. * Allen Buchanan and Gopal Sreenivasan, Ethics *
a rich and carefully structured book, written with clarity and integrity . . . The author's appetite for argument is formidable, his intelligence is obvious, and the analysis offered is always thought-provoking and often subtle. While I find myself disagreeing with some of the author's conclusions, the central ideas which drive the argument of the book represent an important advance in the literature. * N. E. Simmonds, American Journal of Jurisprudence *
Cruft manages to do what few philosophers are able to do: offer a genuine competitor to extant theories of rights in general, and human rights in particular. The book is replete with arresting insights and does not shy away -- on the contrary -- from reaching controversial conclusions on (in particular) the grounds and scope of property rights. Cruft's ability to conduct forensic dissections of the literature without losing sight of his overarching aims is extraordinary. With this book, he cements his status as a leading legal, moral and political philosopher. * Cécile Fabre, University of Oxford *
This is the most original, rigorous, and wide-ranging book on rights in many years. Rowan Cruft makes fundamental advances in describing how rights do -- and should -- structure our moral, legal, and social relations to each other. * Leif Wenar, King's College London *
In the face of criticisms of the concept of rights as no longer useful for political theory and practice, Cruft's masterfully argued book reveals their power and their humanitarian import. His work is engaging, original, and profoundly important in these difficult times. * Carol C. Gould, City University of New York *