Critique of Rights

      Christoph Menke

      Translated by Christopher Turner

      polity

      First published in German as Kritik der Rechte © Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2015 This English edition © Polity Press, 2020

      This publication was supported by the DFG funded Cluster of Excellence “Normative Orders” at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.

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      ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-2042-8

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Menke, Christoph, 1958- author.

      Title: Critique of rights / Christoph Menke ; translated by Christopher Turner

      Other titles: Kritik der Rechte. English

      Description: Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA : Polity, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “The declaration of equal rights arguably created the modern political community. But this act of empowering individuals caused the disempowering of the political community. Exposing this, Menke opens up a new way of understanding rights that no longer involves the disempowering of the political community”-- Provided by publisher.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2019024007 (print) | LCCN 2019024008 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509520381 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509520398 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509520428 (epub)

      Subjects: LCSH: Civil rights--Philosophy. | Liberalism.

      Classification: LCC JC571 .M425513 2020 (print) | LCC JC571 (ebook) | DDC 323.01--dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024007 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024008 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

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