Vulnerability and Dignity: A Dialogue with Martha Fineman’s Theory
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5294/dika.2023.32.1.18Keywords:
Martha Fineman, vulnerability, moral autonomy, dignity, social justiceAbstract
Both in doctrine and in case law, it has become frequent to resort to the perspective of vulnerability to protect human rights better. This paper intends to critically assess Martha Fineman’s approach to vulnerability, particularly the importance of overcoming the idea of liberal moral autonomy to reach better social justice standards. It defends the thesis that under a human condition conceived from the rationality of the Aristotelian tradition, some problems of Fineman’s vulnerability theory, noted by its critics, can be resolved. Specifically, we intend to prove that a sufficient and coherent justification of equal and universal rights is achieved from this conception of human nature—of its inherent vulnerability and dignity. This may be relevant to creating better particular public policies and opportunities for human development, bringing together the universal and singular elements essential to achieving it rather than Fineman’s proposal.
Downloads
References
Alexandre, Michéle, “Martha Fineman, More Transformative than Ever”, Emory Law Journal, 67 (6) (2018), pp. 1135-1148 en https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol67/iss6/2?utm_source=scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu%2Felj%2Fvol67%2Fiss6%2F2&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages
Alexy, Robert, El concepto y la validez del derecho, trad. J. M. Seña, 2.ª ed., Barcelona, Gedisa, 2004.
Alexy, Robert, “¿Derechos humanos sin metafísica?”, en La institucionalización de la razón, 3.ª ed., Granada, Comares, 2016, pp. 75-89.
Ansuátegui Roig, Francisco Javier, “Vulnerabilidad, sociedad e individuo”, Tiempo de Paz 138 (2020), pp. 12-19. https://revistatiempodepaz.org/revista-138/#dflip-df_1654/14/
Añón Roig, María José, “Mujeres y vulnerabilidades”, Tiempo de Paz 138 (2020), pp. 47-54 en https://revistatiempodepaz.org/revista-138/#dflip-df_1654/49/
Aristóteles, Acerca del alma, trad. T. Calvo, Madrid, Gredos, 1983.
Aristóteles, “Ética Nicomáquea”, en Ética Nicomáquea / Ética Eudemia, trad. J. Pallí Bonet, Madrid, Gredos, 1985, pp. 129-408.
Aristóteles, Física, trad. G. R. de Echandía, Madrid, Gredos, 1985.
Aristóteles, Metafísica, trad. V. García Yerba, Madrid, Gredos, 1998.
Arnardóttir, Oddný Mjöll, “Vulnerability under Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights”, Oslo Law Review 4 (3) (2017), pp. 150-171. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.2387-3299-2017-03-03
Barranco Avilés, María José, “Vulnerabilidad. Los ejemplos del sexismo y el edadismo”, en María José Barranco Avilés y Cristina Churruca Muguruza (coords.), Vulnerabilidad y protección de los derechos humanos, Valencia, Tirant lo Blanch, 2014, pp. 17-44.
Barrère Unzueta, María Ángeles, “Iusfeminismo y derecho antidiscriminatorio: hacia la igualdad por la discriminación”, en Ruth Mestre (coord.), Mujeres, derechos y ciudadanías, Valencia, Tirant lo Blanch, 2008, pp. 45-71.
Barrère Unzueta, María Ángeles, “Martha A. Fineman y la igualdad jurídica: ¿vulnerabilidad vs. subordiscriminación?”, Cuadernos Electrónicos de Filosofía del Derecho 34 (2016), pp. 17-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7203/CEFD.34.8927
Basset, Úrsula, “La vulnerabilidad como perspectiva: una visión latinoamericana del problema. Aportes del Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos”, en Úrsula Basset et al. (dirs.), Tratado de la vulnerabilidad, Buenos Aires, La ley, 2017, pp. 19-40.
Beuchot, Mauricio, Filosofía y derechos humanos, 3.a ed., Ciudad de México, Siglo veintiuno, 1999.
Breuer, Irene, “Towards a vulnerability-centred phenomenological ethics: Personhood, humanity and bodily precariousness of the mediatized, exiled subject”, Studia Philosophica Europeanea 8 (2) (2018), pp. 98-119. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/24646504.2020.7
Butler, Judith, Precarious Life. The Powers of Mourning and Violence, London/New York, Verso, 2004.
Casalini, Brunella, “Politics, justice, and the vulnerable subject: The contribution of feminist thought”, Periódico do Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre Gênero e Direito 5 (3) (2016), pp. 15-29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18351/2179-7137/ged.v5n3p15-29
Chávez-Fernández Postigo, José, La dignidad como fundamento derechos humanos en las sentencias del Tribunal Constitucional peruano. La tensión entre la mera autonomía y la libertad ontológica, Lima, Palestra, 2012.
Chávez-Fernández Postigo, José, “El enfoque argumentativo de Manuel Atienza y la teoría estándar: dos problemas y un ensayo de solución”, Problema. Anuario de Filosofía y Teoría del Derecho 13 (2019), pp. 125-160 en https://revistas.juridicas.unam.mx/index.php/filosofia-derecho/article/view/13718
Chávez-Fernández Postigo, José, “Waldron y la dignidad: el problema del fundamento de los derechos humanos”, Derecho PUCP 85 (2020), pp. 257-276. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18800/derechopucp.202002.008
Cummins, Ian, “Fineman and vulnerability”, The Journal of Adult Protection 21 (2) (2019), pp. 85-88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-10-2018-0021
Delgado Rodríguez, Janet, “The relevance of the ethics of vulnerability in bioethics”, Les ateliers de l’éthique / The Ethics Forum 12 (2-3) (2017), pp. 154-179. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1051280ar
Elósegui Itxaso, María, “El concepto jurisprudencial del acomodamiento razonable. El Tribunal Supremo de Canadá y el Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos ante la gestión de la diversidad cultural y religiosa en el espacio público”, Anuario de Filosofía del Derecho 30 (2014), pp. 69-96. https://ojs.mjusticia.gob.es/index.php/AFD/article/view/2254
Fineman, Martha, The Illusion of Equality. The Rhetoric and Reality of Divorce Reform, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2019.
Fineman, Martha, The Autonomy Myth. A Theory of Dependency, New York, The New Press, 2004.
Fineman, Martha, “The vulnerable subject: anchoring equality in the human condition”, Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 20 (1) (2008), pp. 1-23. https://ssrn.com/abstract=1131407
Fineman, Martha, “The sexual family”, en Fineman, Martha et al. (eds.), Feminist and Queer Legal Theory. Intimate Encounters, Uncomfortable Conversations, Ashgate, Farnham/Burlington, 2009, pp. 45-63.
Fineman, Martha, “The vulnerable subject and the responsive state”, Emory Law Journal 60 (2) (2010), pp. 251-275. https://ssrn.com/abstract=1694740
Fineman, Martha, “Beyond identities: The limits of an antidiscrimination approach to equality”, Boston University Law Review 92 (6) (2012), pp. 1713-1779. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2192316
Fineman, Martha, “Equality, autonomy, and the vulnerable subject in law and politics”, en Martha Fineman y Anna Grear (Eds.), Vulnerability. Reflections on a New Ethical Foundation for Law and Politics, Ashgate, Farnham/Burlington, 2013, pp. 13-26.
Fineman, Martha, “Equality and Difference – The Restrained State”, Alabama Law Review 66 (3) (2015), pp. 609-626. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2591689
Fineman, Martha, “Vulnerability and inevitable inequality”, Oslo Law Review 4 (4) (2017), pp. 133-149. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18261/issn.2387-3299-2017-03-02
Fineman, Martha, “Introduction”, en Martha Fineman et al. (eds.), Privatization, Vulnerability, and Social Responsibility. A Comparative Perspective, London/New York, Routledge, 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315387543
Fineman, Martha, “Vulnerability and social justice”, Valparaiso University Law Review 53 (2) (2019), pp. 341-369. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3352825
Fineman, Martha, “Reasoning from the body: Universal vulnerability and social justice”, en Chris Dietz et al. (eds.), A Jurisprudence of the Body, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 17-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42200-4_2
Finnis, John, Aquinas. Moral, Political and Legal Theory, New York, Oxford University Press, 1998.
Finnis, John, Natural Law and Natural Rights, 2.a ed., New York, Oxford University Press, 2011.
Fouladvand, Shahrzad y Tony Ward, “Human trafficking, vulnerability and the State”, The Journal of Criminal Law 83 (1) (2019), pp. 39-54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022018318814373
George, Robert P., “Natural law, god and human dignity”, en George Duke y Robert P. George (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Jurisprudence, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017, pp. 57-75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316341544.003
Grear, Anna, Redirecting Human Rights. Facing the Challenge of Corporate Legal Humanity, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230274631
Hirschmann, Nancy, “Autonomy? Or Freedom? A Return to Psychoanalytic Theory”, en Veltman, Andrea y Mark Piper (Eds.), Autonomy, Oppression, and Gender, New York, Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 61-84. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199969104.003.0004
Honkasalo, Marja-Liisa, “Guest Editor´s Introduction: Vulnerability and inquiring into relationality”, Suomen antropologi, 43 (3) (2018), pp. 1-21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.v43i3.82725
Hoyos, Ilva, De la dignidad y de los derechos humanos. Una introducción al pensar analógico, Bogotá, Temis, 2005.
Kalinowski, George, “Sobre la relación entre el hecho y el derecho”, trad. C. I. Massini-Correas, en Concepto, fundamento y concreción del derecho, Buenos Aires, Abeledo-Perrot, 1982, pp. 81-95.
Kant, Immanuel, Fundamentación de la metafísica de las costumbres, trad. J. Mardomingo, Barcelona, Ariel, 1996.
Kirby, Peadar, Vulnerability and Violence. The Impact of Globalisation, London, Pluto Press, 2006.
La Barbera, María Caterina, “La vulnerabilidad como categoría en construcción en la jurisprudencia del Tribunal Europeo de derechos humanos: límites y potencialidad”, Revista de Derecho Comunitario Europeo 62 (2019), pp. 235-247. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rdce.62.07
MacIntyre, Alasdair, Dependent Rational Animals. Why Human Beings Need the Virtues, 3.a ed., Chicago, Open Court, 2002.
Mackenzie, Catriona, “The importance of relational autonomy and capabilities for an ethics of vulnerability”, en Catriona Mackenzie et al. (eds.), Vulnerability. New Essays in Ethics and Feminist Philosophy, New York, Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 33-59. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199316649.003.0002
Martinón, Ruth e Isabel Wences, “Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos y pobreza. Nuevas incursiones a la luz del caso Hacienda Brasil Verde”, Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional 20 (2020), pp. 169-201. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22201/iij.24487872e.2020.20.14474
McClain, Linda C., “Formative projects, formative influences: Of Martha Albertson Fineman and feminist, liberal, and vulnerable subject”, Emory Law Journal 67 (6) (2018), pp. 1175-1206. https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol67/iss6/5
Merton, Robert K., “On sociological theories of the middle range”, en On Theoretical Sociology. Fine Essays, Old and New, New York, The Free Press, 1968, pp. 39-72.
Morondo Taramundi, Dolores, “¿Un nuevo paradigma para la igualdad? La vulnerabilidad entre condición humana y situación de indefensión”, Cuadernos Electrónicos de Filosofía del Derecho 34 (2016), pp. 205-221. https://ojs.uv.es/index.php/CEFD/article/view/8916/886
Morondo Taramundi, Dolores, “Vulnerabilidad y derechos humanos”, Tiempo de Paz 138 (2020), pp. 20-27. https://revistatiempodepaz.org/revista-138/#dflip-df_1654/22/
Nussbaum, Martha, Frontiers of Justice. Disability, Nationality, Species membership, Cambridge-Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1c7zftw
Peroni, Lourdes y Alexandra Timmer, “Vulnerable groups: The promise of an emerging concept in European Human Rights Convention Law”, International Journal of Constitutional Law 11 (4) (2013), pp. 1056-1085. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/mot042
Rodríguez Ruiz, Blanca, “¿Identidad o autonomía? La autonomía relacional como pilar de la ciudadanía democrática”, Anuario de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid 17 (2013), pp. 75-104. http://hdl.handle.net/10486/662579
Santiago, Alfonso, La dignidad de la persona humana. Fundamento del orden jurídico nacional e internacional, Buenos Aires, Ábaco, 2022.
Serughetti, Giorgia, “Rethinking force and consent, victimization and agency: A feminist approach to prostitution policy”, Femeris 3 (2) (2017), pp. 79-107. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20318/femeris.2018.4321
Snead, O. Carter, What it Means to be Human. The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics, Cambridge Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2020.
Solanes Corella, Ángeles, “Vulnerabilidad e inmigración”, Tiempo de Paz 138 (2020), pp. 106-114. https://revistatiempodepaz.org/revista-138/#dflip-df_1654/108/
Timmer, Alexandra, “A quiet revolution: Vulnerability in the European Court to Human Rights”, en Martha Fineman y Anna Grear (eds.), Vulnerability. Reflections on a New Ethical Foundation for Law and Politics, Farnham/Burlington, Ashgate, 2013, pp. 147-170.
Turner, Bryan S., Vulnerability and Human Rights (Essays on Human Rights), Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006.
Waddington, Lisa, “Exploring vulnerability in EU law: An analysis of “vulnerability” in EU criminal law and consumer protection law”, European Law Review 45 (6) (2020), pp. 779-801. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/aju.2022.7
Waldron, Jeremy, “Dignidad y rango”, en Democratizar la dignidad. Estudios sobre la dignidad humana y derechos, trad. J. Gallego Saade, Bogotá, Universidad Externado de Colombia, 2019, pp. 41-74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1k03rwf
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Díkaion
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
1. Proposed Policy for Journals That Offer Open Access
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
This journal and its papers are published with the Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). You are free to share copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format if you: give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made; don’t use our material for commercial purposes; don’t remix, transform, or build upon the material.
