Dignity Rather than Right
Abstract
The marriage between dignity and right now shows more unsteady than what it appeared. It is specially clear in the conflicts that emerge between the modern liberal tradition and the Catholic. In order to find a solution, the author deconstructs the history of the concept of “dignity” in the doctrines of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and then Aquinas, as well as its transformation and secularization in Modernity. He traces the relation of the concept of “dignity” to the notions of virtue, value and polis, among others, and to the theological notions of person and grace (considering its gender consequences). At last, the author assertsts that the Kantian notion of dignity offers a lapse back in paganism, so it is better to the christian tradition go back to a notion of dignity that combines human universality and the glory of the singular.References
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