Have the human beings any rights which depend directly on their life needs and not on the social contract? This paper analyses the case of the “right of necessity” (jus necessitatis). Hugo Grotius in his De jure belli ac pacis (1625, 1644) admitted it as a persistence of that “primordial community of all goods” (communio primaeva) which would have ruled the ancient human societies. Even if grounded on a myth, Grotius’ approach was able to support the view that there are basic life rights which have a primacy on the property rights and even on the power of the souverain States. Pufendorf, Leibniz, Wolff shared this view, even if introducing many limitations to its practical consequences. Our actual notion of “human rights”, which arose after the final rejection of Grotius’ approach by Kant, is poorer than Grotius’ one just because it has been devoided of any connection to the questions concerning the limits and possible controls to the natural goods ownership and monopolization. This connection is crucial and quite to re-think in our times.

Dai diritti naturali ai diritti umani. Per una genealogia dell'umanitarismo moderno

PIRO FRANCESCO
2018-01-01

Abstract

Have the human beings any rights which depend directly on their life needs and not on the social contract? This paper analyses the case of the “right of necessity” (jus necessitatis). Hugo Grotius in his De jure belli ac pacis (1625, 1644) admitted it as a persistence of that “primordial community of all goods” (communio primaeva) which would have ruled the ancient human societies. Even if grounded on a myth, Grotius’ approach was able to support the view that there are basic life rights which have a primacy on the property rights and even on the power of the souverain States. Pufendorf, Leibniz, Wolff shared this view, even if introducing many limitations to its practical consequences. Our actual notion of “human rights”, which arose after the final rejection of Grotius’ approach by Kant, is poorer than Grotius’ one just because it has been devoided of any connection to the questions concerning the limits and possible controls to the natural goods ownership and monopolization. This connection is crucial and quite to re-think in our times.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11386/4712448
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