Der Westen und die Menschenrechte

The validity of human rights can be defended. Those who do not want to choose between the imperial assertion that human rights are a triumphal product of the ‘West’ and the relativistic assertion that they are ‘only’ Western would do well to follow closely the debate about ‘affirmative genealogy’, which Hans Joas developed in his ‘Apology of Human Rights’. In ‘Der Westen und die Menschenrechte’ Joas once again plausibilizes his point of view and reacts sharply to the debate conducted in this book by renowned academics. Anyone involved in human rights issues—be it in academic, political or other contexts—and wants to protect them against their ideologisation or relativisation must read this book.

With contributions by
Heiner Bielefeldt, Daniel Bogner, Bernd Irlenborn, Christian Hillgruber, Hans Joas, Michael Kühnlein, Hans Maier, Christoph Möllers, Matthias Sellmann, Ludwig Siep, Tine Stein, Jean-Pierre Wils and Rolf Zimmermann.