Description: Presenting a comprehensive, critical examination of the claim that private property is one of the fundamental rights of humankind, Waldron here contrasts two types of arguments about rights: those based on historical entitlement, and those based on the importance of property for freedom. He illustrates this contrast with a detailed discussion of the theories of property found in Locke's Second Treatise and Hegel's Philosophy of Rights, and offers original analyses of the concept of ownership, the idea of rights, and the relation between property and equality, finding that traditional arguments about property yield some surprisingly radical conclusions.
Review Quotes: "Excellent and important....The most analytically rigorous account as yet on offer of moral justifications for private property....What there can be no uncertainty about is that this book has set new standards of clarity, precision, and scholarship in this field. No discussion of property rights can afford to ignore it without incurring a charge of serious negligence."--Ethics
" The work is heavy-going, but immensely rich. Highly recommended for all university and college libraries." Religious Studies Review"[Waldron's] discussion of Locke will not disappoint. The work is heavy-going, but immensely rich."--Religious Studies Review