ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the liberal juridical-political infrastructure of modernity. It gives the first steps in the analytical approach of the book, dealing with rights, citizenship, the law and, still in a limited way, the state (in what regards rights). It establishes the abstract character of this rights-law infrastructure, in which individuals appear without concrete qualities and equal freedom plays a major role, and which partly survived in authoritarian collectivism. Hohfeld's jural categories, Alexis’ free-position and critical theory's concept of real abstractions as well as the Marxian use of ‘form’ are its main conceptual references. This chapter also provides a discussion of specific examples of a historical character, from the French Revolution to twentieth-century Brazil, as well as the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, through which a more empirical of the issue may be gained. Economic liberalism and property are discussed in this connection.
