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Paperback Taking Rights Seriously: With a New Appendix, a Response to Critics Book

ISBN: 0674867114

ISBN13: 9780674867116

Taking Rights Seriously

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Book Overview

What is law? What is it for? How should judges decide novel cases when the statutes and earlier decisions provide no clear answer? Do judges make up new law in such cases, or is there some higher law in which they discover the correct answer? Must everyone always obey the law? If not, when is a citizen morally free to disobey?

A renowned philosopher enters the debate surrounding these questions. Clearly and forcefully, Ronald Dworkin argues against the "ruling" theory in Anglo-American law--legal positivism and economic utilitarianism--and asserts that individuals have legal rights beyond those explicitly laid down and that they have political and moral rights against the state that are prior to the welfare of the majority.

Mr. Dworkin criticizes in detail the legal positivists' theory of legal rights, particularly H. L. A. Hart's well-known version of it. He then develops a new theory of adjudication, and applies it to the central and politically important issue of cases in which the Supreme Court interprets and applies the Constitution. Through an analysis of John Rawls's theory of justice, he argues that fundamental among political rights is the right of each individual to the equal respect and concern of those who govern him. He offers a theory of compliance with the law designed not simply to answer theoretical questions about civil disobedience, but to function as a guide for citizens and officials. Finally, Professor Dworkin considers the right to liberty, often thought to rival and even preempt the fundamental right to equality. He argues that distinct individual liberties do exist, but that they derive, not from some abstract right to liberty as such, but from the right to equal concern and respect itself. He thus denies that liberty and equality are conflicting ideals.

Ronald Dworkin's theory of law and the moral conception of individual rights that underlies it have already made him one of the most influential philosophers working in this area. This is the first publication of these ideas in book form.

Customer Reviews

3 ratings

Absolute Classic

Things are quite simple. If there is A contemporary debate in jurisprudence, it is the so-called Hart/Dworkin debate. It all starts with this wonderful book that cuts deeply and challenges the theory of legal positivism on many levels. As for the theory of rights, Dworkin is a proponent of one of the most coherent, interesting and complex articulations of liberalism. In short: to the extent that fundamental rights are in play, the "political majority" (if such a thing exists) does not have the moral right to tell members of the minority what to do with their own lives. Is not this a simple but powerful moral truth?

His Logic is Flawless

... and this is a welcome breeze in the current political fog of an America drowning in six-shooters and visceral-response-teams. The Dworkin-challenge before us is the discovery of rights as emanating from the individual, and their use in daily life. This is where Dworkin may break down. Unlike Dershowitz's "Shouting Fire", for example, Dworkin does not write as if there is a human behind the logic who is actually extolling our necessary freedoms. Perhaps it is just me, but I'd like to hold on to and celebrate my rights and yours; I'd also like to affect change-- as would Dworkin, on a global scale. Though he sees humanity's natural path to decency, his writing "feels" far too cold to be effective. Dworkin is provocative, complex and though-full. This work shifts between levels of abstraction and works toward grand theories of natural-law that will flip less talented contemporaries on their collective heads. Because our job as citizens includes the requirement that we think (far beyond our childhood systems of ordering the world), "Taking Rights Seriously" should indeed be taken to heart and mind. My instinct is to suggest that one supplement Dworkin with John S. Mill and Dershowitz. With a nod to Dworkin, I "think" the latter suggestion is well-reasoned.

A Clear Window on Rights

It is a brave author that attempts a new perspective on a topic that has been fodder for politicians and philosophers for thousands of years. Dworkin clears out the old cobwebs and provides insights and new perspectives for the 21st century. It is a must read for anyone serious about our dwindling rights in today's modern society. Well written, not an academic sleeping pill.
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