The dignity of the person as foundation of the Brazilian State A retrieval of Boethius through the Summa Theologica
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Abstract
The Brazilian Constitution states that the dignity of the human person is a foundation of the Federative Republic of Brazil. In this theme, very much in vogue in parliament and in the legal system, especially in today’s times, there is an inversion of roles: instead of the dignity of the person being, a priori, the legal construct of protection and the very notion of person, a posteriori, it is this same legal system that seems to create its notion and recognize its extension, as the law develops. With this assumption, there are modern discussions about euthanasia, about the so-called “right to suicide” and, mainly, about the “right” to abortion. In all three cases, there is a legal manipulation of the extension of the concept of person and the protection of his dignity, in order to apply it with more or less intensity to these or those individuals, weakening the protection to his personality. The article examines the very origin of the notion of person in Western philosophy; rescues Boethius’ classic notion of person, under the focus of Tomas Aquinas, to demonstrate that this dignity is not manipulable by law or by the State itself, because it precedes and justifies it.
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