Human Dignity of the Vulnerable in the Age of Rights: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice)

This volume is devoted to exploring a subject which, on the surface, might appear to be just a trending topic. In fact, it is much more than a trend. It relates to an ancient, permanent issue which directly connects with people’s life and basic needs: the recognition and protection of individuals’ dignity, in particular the inherent worthiness of the most vulnerable human beings. The content of this book is described well enough by its title: ‘Human Dignity of the Vulnerable in the Age of Rights’. Certainly, we do not claim that only the human dignity of vulnerable people should be recognized and protected. We rather argue that, since vulnerability is part of the human condition, human vulnerability is not at odds with human dignity. To put it simply, human dignity is compatible with vulnerability.

A concept of human dignity which discards or denies the dignity of the vulnerable and weak is at odds with the real human condition. Even those individuals who might seem more skilled and talented are fragile, vulnerable and limited. We need to realize that human condition is not limitless. It is crucial to re-discover a sense of moderation regarding ourselves, a sense of reality concerning our own nature. Some lines of thought take the opposite view. It is sometimes argued that humankind is – or is called to be – powerful, and that the time will come when there will be no vulnerability, no fragility, no limits at all. Human beings will become like God (or what believers might think God to be). This perspective rejects human vulnerability as in intrinsic evil. Those who are frail or weak, who are not autonomous or not able to care for themselves, do not possess dignity. In this volume it is claimed that vulnerability is an inherent part of human condition, and because human dignity belongs to all individuals, laws are called to recognize and protect the rights of all of them, particularly of those who might appear to be more vulnerable and fragile.

Aniceto Masferrer is Professor of Legal History andteaches legal history and comparative law at the Faculty of Law, University ofValencia, Spain. He is the author of eight books (including his SpanishLegal Traditions. A Comparative Legal History Outline (Madrid, 2009; 2012,2^nd ed,)) and the editor of six (including Masferrer, A (ed.), Post 9/11 and the State of Permanent Legal Emergency: Securityand Human Rights in Countering Terrorism(Springer, 2012), Masferrer, A & Walker, C(eds.) Counter-Terrorism, Human Rights And The RuleOf Law. Crossing Legal Boundaries inDefence of the State (EdwardElgar Publishing, 2013), and Masferrer, A., LaCodificación española. Una aproximación doctrinal e historiográfica a susinfluencias extranjeras, y a la francesa en particular (ThomsonReuters-Aranzadi, 2014)), and sixtybook chapters/articles published in Spanish, European and American lawjournals. He has published extensively on criminal law from an historical andcomparative perspective, as well as on the codification movement andfundamental rights in the Western legal tradition. He has been a fellowresearcher at the Institute Max-Planck for European Legal History (2000-03),Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge (2005), Visiting Scholar atHarvard Law School (2006-07) and at Melbourne Law School (2008), and VisitingProfessor at the University of Tasmania (2010), Visiting Scholar at LouisianaState University – The Paul M. Hebert Law Center – (2013), Visiting Scholar atGeorge Washington University Law School (as the Recipientof the Richard & Diane Cummins Legal History ResearchGrant for 2014), and VisitingProfessor at the École Normale Supérieure– Paris (2015). He haslectured at universities around the world (France, Germany, Belgium, TheNetherlands, Malta, Israel, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, USA, Canada,Australia and New Zealand). He is a member of the advisory board of severalSpanish, European, Anglo-American and Asian Law Journals, and the Chief Editorof GLOSSAE. European Journal of LegalHistory. He ismember of the American Society for LegalHistory, the current president of the EuropeanSociety for Comparative Legal History (from 2010), and vice-president ofthe Fundación Universitas. He is alsothe Director of the Institute for Social,Political and Legal Studies, member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Jurisprudence andLegislation, and board member of the ValencianCommittee for European Affairs.

Emilio García-Sánchez is Biologist and Postgraduate Masters in Bioethics (University ofNavarra, 2010). He defended his thesis Master on The return of virtue bioethics tothe crisis of nature. He currently teaches Bioethics at the Faculties of Medicine and Nursing CEUCardenal Herrera University (Valencia,Spain). He is the main researcher of Bioethics Research Group at his university. His main linesof research are ethical and sociologicalanalysis of human vulnerability in today's culture: health and bioethical implications. He haspublished two articles on the recognitionof the nature and dignity in the terminally ill. The latest in the Journal of Bioethics: ‘Therescue of the human in the patient whodies’ (2012). He was also the Editor of the issue nr 77 (vol. 23: ‘Eugenics in Today's Society’) ofthe Journal of Bioethics (May 2012).He is currently working on bioethical issues raised by the aesthetic medicine. He haspublished an article on this subject: “The tyranny of perfection. BioethicalImplications” (July 2013). He was Visiting Scholar atInstitute of Ethics (Dublin City University) (July-September 2014) and atKennedy Institute of Ethics (Georgetown University, Washington DC)(August-November 2015).