Visions of human dignity in Immanuel Kant and Jürgen Habermas

Abstract

Even in the 21st century, the impact that Immanuel Kant and Jürgen Habermas have had on the development of the current discourse on human dignity takes on unusual relevance for understanding the normative and philosophical evolution of human rights. Under these argumentative premises, the objective of the research is to critically examine the conception of human dignity based on a hermeneutic interpretation of selected works by both thinkers. This objective translates into questions such as: How do Kant and Habermas' ideas of human dignity represent a firm basis for fundamental rights? Methodologically, this is a hermeneutic and comparative investigation, developed within the framework of the history of ideas. The conclusions affirm that, at least in philosophical terms, the confluence of autonomy and deliberation provides the most promising conceptual foundations for conceiving a 21st-century social contract based on genuine respect for the dignity and freedom of rational and non-rational beings.