Abstract

This review article discusses Arthur Ripstein’s Kantian account of rights. Our most important rights, Ripstein argues, are determined by our independence rather than our interests. And a significant group of these rights—our rights over external things—is enforceable only in virtue of state membership. I argue that whilst independence is an important source of rights, we cannot exclude interests from an adequate account of rights, and that once this is acknowledged we will conclude that the state is less important than Ripstein believes in rendering our rights enforceable