Tools are defined by their use: Perspectives on the conceptualization of human dignity

Abstract

The paper describes the tensions around the definition of the concept of human dignity, understanding it as an hermeneutic tool without a concrete content, that helps the legal operators interpretate human rights and acknowledging it as the ultimate basis of fundamental rights of every human being. It is approached from an ethic point of view, refering to brief considerations from Imannuel Kant and Jürgen Haberman in relationship to the concept, and from a semantic and a legal point of view in the analisis of the interpretations of the Human Right’s legal bodies.