Cannibalismo e (dis)umanità. La Giunta di Valladolid (1550-1551) o sull’attualità dei «chierici» di una volta

Cannibalism and (In)Humanity. The Valladolid Council (1550-1551) or about the Newness of Old-fashioned «clercs». This paper aims at exploring the most long-debated issues regarding the Las Casas-Sepúlveda controversy at Valladolid (1550-1551). Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and Bartolomé de Las Casas have two different approaches to the same Revelation and the same concept of “humanity”. On the one side, Las Casas is an apostle of Christian softness. His ethic of responsibility brings about tolerance towards rituals involving cannibalism. But on the other side, Sepúlveda treats cannibalism rituals as mass atrocities; according to his ethics of conviction, as a matter of fact, he is a human rights defender. Those issues concern the responsibility-to-protect (R2P): it is the result of the Terentian humanism or the imperialistic attitude? The great debate of Valladolid proves to be a very current topic because, once again, we cannot detach one thing from another.