An Introduction to Rights

This book is an introduction to the history, logic, moral implications, and political tendencies of the idea of rights. This thoroughly updated second edition includes a new preface and expands the discussion of the surprising role that slavery has played in the history of rights. It includes new material on egalitarianism, distributive justice, and what the demand for equal ri...

This book is an introduction to the history, logic, moral implications, and political tendencies of the idea of rights. This thoroughly updated second edition includes a new preface and expands the discussion of the surprising role that slavery has played in the history of rights. It includes new material on egalitarianism, distributive justice, and what the demand for equal rights means.

William A. Edmundson is Regents' Professor of Law and of Philosophy at Georgia State University. He is the author of Three Anarchical Fallacies and is co-editor of The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory.