Professor Rowan Cruft

Professor

Philosophy University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Professor Rowan Cruft

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http://www.stir.ac.uk/people/rowancruft

About me

I am Head of the Division of Law and Philosophy. I joined Philosophy at Stirling in 2002 after completing my PhD - on the justification of property rights - at Cambridge. Before postgraduate research, I worked for a year on tax policy as a civil servant in HM Treasury. Please click on the 'Research' tab for details of recent publications and projects.

Research (5)

My research examines the nature and justification of rights and duties, and their role in shaping a democratic public sphere.  I am especially interested in the comparative importance of different forms of right including human rights, natural rights, contractual rights, property rights, legal rights.

My book - Human Rights, Ownership, and the Individual (OUP, 2019) - examines the distinction between rights grounded primarily by what they do for the right-holder (e.g. our 'basic' human rights) and those grounded by what they do for the wider community independently of their benefits to the right-holder (e.g. most property rights and other useful created systems of rights). I start from a new account of the nature of rights as formally bringing together duty-bearer and right-holder first-personally. Work on this book was supported by a British Academy mid-career fellowship (2016-17). The book is available here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/human-rights-ownership-and-the-individual-9780198793366. It has been reviewed in the following journals: Ethics; American Journal of Jurisprudence; Law and Philosophy; Journal of Moral Philosophy. A symposium on the book is available in the Journal of Applied Philosophy: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14685930/2022/39/2. I discuss the book's doubts about property as a right in the Southampton Ethical Challenges Lecture 2022, here: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/southampton_ethics_centre/news/events/2022/11/14-ethical-challenges-lecture-is-property-a-right.page

I attempted a very condensed summary of some of my thinking on rights in this 'Time for Reflection' session at the Scottish Parliament in September 2024: https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scottishparliament.tv%2Fmeeting%2Ftime-for-reflection-september-17-2024&data=05%7C02%7Crowan.cruft%40stir.ac.uk%7C8a265ed142714c3fe0c808dcd73e649a%7C4e8d09f7cc794ccb9149a4238dd17422%7C0%7C0%7C638621910189065553%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=pebD8Qqey3zds5CjQaNLm7m%2F16yvIyx3sTwGFj%2FyfwI%3D&reserved=0

I am also co-editor of Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights (OUP, 2015): http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199688630.do

I was recently Principal Investigator for a major project, Norms for the New Public Sphere, with Natalie Ashton (Stirling), Fabienne Peter (Warwick) and Jonathan Heawood (Senior Research Fellow), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)from 2019-22. The project brought together academic philosophers with those working in media studies and media activists and professionals, in order to investigate the opportunities and challenges that new social media pose for the 'public sphere'. The project team criticised and considered the norms that could underpin a media policy framework for the internet age. For full details about the project, see: https://newpublicsphere.stir.ac.uk/ Our reports for policy-makers and industry are here, along with a range of talks and articles: https://newpublicsphere.stir.ac.uk/outreach/ The AHRC has funded Follow-On work (2024-25) emerging from this project, supporting development of a Co-Creational Model for the News Media, building on an idea developed by Fabienne Peter and Jonathan Heawood that emerged from our initial project: https://www.publicinterestnews.org.uk/post/trust-truth-and-teamwork/

A guiding aim of my research is to demonstrate how philosophical positions bear on the justification of public policies and law.  I have participated in policy development for NGOs and government, and in public inquiries including in 2012 as an invited witness at the Leveson Inquiry (https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140122192140/http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Witness-Statement-of-Dr-Rowan-Cruft.pdf) and as co-author of a submission to the Commission on a Bill of Rights for the UK. I was also recently a participant in an AHRC/MRC-funded interdisciplinary network working with health, law and media academics and professionals, examining the right to health in youth justice institutions in Brazil and Scotland. I was delighted to receive an award for 'Best Mentor' in Stirling's Research Culture Awards 2021.

Teaching: I teach undergraduate modules on a range of topics in moral, political and legal philosophy, and regularly teach on our joint graduate programme with St Andrews (https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/sasp/). I also helped set up Stirling's interdisciplinary MSc in Human Rights and Diplomacy, taught in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (https://www.stir.ac.uk/courses/pg-taught/human-rights-and-diplomacy/).

  Research Postgraduate Supervision: I am currently supervising PhDs on the need for work, on the nature of rights, on human rights and cultural heritage, and on trust and audit.  I have supervised PhD theses on the nature of 'positive' or socio-economic rights, on well-being as a ground for justice, on the justice of market transactions, on the defensibility of democracy, on the responsibility of collective agents, on causation in morality and law, and on civil disobedience.  I enjoy postgraduate supervision and my students have a strong record on the job market, and a strong record attracting AHRC and other awards. See https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/sasp/introduction/our-placement-record/  

Professional Activities: In addition to reviewing for journals, I was a member of the management committee of The Philosophical Quarterly from 2009-19.  From 2015-17 I was a member of the executive committee of the Aristotelian Society.  From 2007-14, I was a member of the AHRC peer review college. Since 2017 I have been a member of the Council of the Royal Institute of Philosophy. In 2021, I was appointed to the College of Experts for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/dcms-college-of-experts#contents. In addition, until recently I was external examiner for the undergraduate philosophy degree at King's College London, and have held similar roles at Cambridge and Glasgow.

Projects

Norms for the New Public Sphere: Institutionalising Respect for Truth, Self Government, and Privacy
PI: Professor Rowan Cruft
Funded by: Arts and Humanities Research Council
–

Right to Health in Prison
PI:
Funded by: Medical Research Council
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Rights, Roles and the Individual
PI: Professor Rowan Cruft
Funded by: The British Academy
–

Rights and the Direction of Duties
PI: Professor Rowan Cruft
Funded by: Arts and Humanities Research Council
–

Institutionalising values Beyond human rights
PI: Professor Rowan Cruft
Funded by: Arts and Humanities Research Council
–

Outputs (40)

Outputs

Book Chapter

Why Human Rights?

Cruft R (2022) Why Human Rights?. In: Tomalty J & Woods K (eds.) Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Human Rights. London: Routledge.

Book Chapter

Rights

Cruft R (2023) Rights. In: Bellamy R & King J (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory. Cambridge Law Handbooks. Camridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-handbook-of-constitutional-theory/DD926AE0A50620E6D798C5E678A49ED5

Book Chapter

Communication and Rights

Cruft R (2022) Communication and Rights. In: Being Social: The Philosophy of Social Human Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 171-187. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198871194.003.0010

Book Chapter

Is There a Right to Internet Access?

Cruft R (2021) Is There a Right to Internet Access?. In: Véliz C (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. C4.S1-C4.N27. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198857815.013.4

Book Chapter

Legitimating Pandemic-Responsive Policy: Whose Voices Count When?

Cruft R (2021) Legitimating Pandemic-Responsive Policy: Whose Voices Count When?. In: Niker F & Bhattacharya A (eds.) Political Philosophy in a Pandemic: Routes to a More Just Future. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 109-122. https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/political-philosophy-in-a-pandemic-routes-to-a-more-just-future/

Monograph

Human Rights, Ownership, and the Individual

Cruft R (2019) Human Rights, Ownership, and the Individual. London: Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/human-rights-ownership-and-the-individual-9780198793366?cc=gb&lang=en&

Book Chapter

How Fundamental is the Right to Freedom of Exchange?

Cruft R (2019) How Fundamental is the Right to Freedom of Exchange?. In: Queralt J & van der Vossen B (eds.) Economic Liberties and Human Rights. Political Philosophy for the Real World. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 259-274. https://www.routledge.com/Economic-Liberties-and-Human-Rights-1st-Edition/Queralt-van-der-Vossen/p/book/9781138574397

Edited Book

Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights

Cruft R, Liao SM & Renzo M (eds.) (2015) Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights. Philosophical Foundations of Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199688630.do

Book Chapter

From a Good Life to Human Rights: Some Complications

Cruft R (2015) From a Good Life to Human Rights: Some Complications. In: Cruft R, Liao S & Renzo M (eds.) Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights. Philosophical Foundations of Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 101-116. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/philosophical-foundations-of-human-rights-9780199688630?cc=gb〈=en&

Book Chapter

The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights: An Overview

Cruft R, Liao SM & Renzo M (2015) The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights: An Overview. In: Cruft R, Liao S & Renzo M (eds.) Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights. Philosophical Foundations of Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-41. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/philosophical-foundations-of-human-rights-9780199688630?cc=gb〈=en&

Book Chapter

Human Rights as Individualistically Justified: A Defence

Cruft R (2015) Human Rights as Individualistically Justified: A Defence. In: Brooks T (ed.) Current Controversies in Political Philosophy. Current Controversies in Philosophy. London: Routledge, pp. 45-62. https://www.routledge.com/Current-Controversies-in-Political-Philosophy/Brooks/p/book/9780415517539

Book Review

Human Rights Law Without Natural Moral Rights

Cruft R (2015) Human Rights Law Without Natural Moral Rights. Review of: The Heart of Human Rights, Allen E. Buchanan, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, 336 pp. ISBN 9780199325382. Ethics and International Affairs, 29 (2), pp. 223-232. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0892679415000088

Book Chapter

Human Rights as Rights

Cruft R (2011) Human Rights as Rights. In: Ernst G & Heilinger J (eds.) The Philosophy of Human Rights: Contemporary Controversies. Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 129-158. http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/178551

Edited Book

Crime, Punishment, and Responsibility: The Jurisprudence of Antony Duff

Cruft R, Kramer M & Reiff M (eds.) (2011) Crime, Punishment, and Responsibility: The Jurisprudence of Antony Duff. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://global.oup.com/academic/product/crime-punishment-and-responsibility-9780199592814;jsessionid=4EB18631174CEDD0C2480E5E3B14C507?cc=gb〈=en&

Book Chapter

Antony Duff and the Philosophy of Punishment

Reiff M & Cruft R (2011) Antony Duff and the Philosophy of Punishment. In: Cruft R, Kramer M & Reiff M (eds.) Crime, Punishment, and Responsibility: The Jurisprudence of Antony Duff. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3-24. http://global.oup.com/academic/product/crime-punishment-and-responsibility-9780199592814;jsessionid=4EB18631174CEDD0C2480E5E3B14C507?cc=gb〈=en&

Book Review

Two Approaches to Human Rights

Cruft R (2010) Two Approaches to Human Rights. Review of: On Human Rights. By James Griffin. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Pp. xiii + 339. ISBN 9780191553509 Poverty and Fundamental Rights: the Justification and Enforcement of Socio-Economic Rights. By David Bilchitz. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Pp. xviii + 279. ISBN 9780191021695. Philosophical Quarterly, 60 (238), pp. 176-182. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9213.2009.638.x

Book Chapter

What Do Basic Rights Demand?

Cruft R (2009) What Do Basic Rights Demand?. In: Chappell T (ed.) The Problem of Moral Demandingness: New Philosophical Essays. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=297799

Commentary

Liberalism and the changing character of the criminal law: Response to Ashworth and Zedner

Cruft R (2008) Liberalism and the changing character of the criminal law: Response to Ashworth and Zedner. Commentary on: Ashworth, A. & Zedner, L. (2007). Defending the criminal law: Reflections on the changing character of crime, procedure, and sanctions. Criminal Law and Philosophy, doi: 10.1007/s11572-007-9033-2.. Criminal Law and Philosophy, 2 (1), pp. 59-65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-007-9034-1

Book Chapter

Policy Implications of the Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights

Cruft R (2007) Policy Implications of the Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights. In: Ollero A (ed.) Human Rights and Ethics / Derechos humanos y Ètica: Proceedings of the 22nd IVR World Congress Granada 2005. Volume III. Archiv fur Rechts-und Sozialphilosophie, 108. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, pp. 60-67. http://www.steiner-verlag.de/programm/fachbuch/philosophie/rechts-und-sozialphilosophie/reihen/view/titel/56045.html

Research programmes

Research themes