HuDig19 · Making Humans: Human Dignity in Nineteenth-Century France

Human dignity refers to the intrinsic worthiness of the human being, which renders all individuals equal bearers of rights. It is a shared value of the European Member States and the cornerstone of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Modern scholarship has relied on an uncontested paradigm: the recognition of the intrinsic worthiness of the human being necessarily entails social justice and the equality of all individuals. This approach is nonetheless unsuitable for examining human dignity in the nineteenth century, a time period that has been insufficiently explored. HuDig19 focuses on the case of France and reveals fascinating discoveries. Human dignity was defined as a sentiment, a conception that does not bear any historical precedents. Human dignity was deployed to humanize certain people while downgrading the humanity of others. Human dignity was also used to conceal inequalities and to justify injustices. To explain those startling findings, HuDig19 adopts a novel critical theory approach and explores untapped nineteenth-century sources. The idea of human dignity has never been studied in such an archival and critical ways. HuDig19 focuses on the following research objectives: a) To unveil why human dignity was conceived as a sentiment b) to explain its emotional regime c) to examine whether human dignity was used to justify inequalities d) to reveal how it was used to strip women of their citizenship and e) to update our contemporary conception of human dignity. HuDig19 open new interdisciplinary perspectives for the studies of a value that defines our democracies. HuDig19 is carried out by Prof. Antonio Pele, who has developed strong expertise on human dignity. The primary supervisor, Prof. Bernard E. Harcourt, is a leading scholar in critical theory. The co-supervisor, Prof. Arnaud Esquerre is a renowned scholar in historical sociology. HuDig19 is implemented in the remarkable infrastructure of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris.