‘Care of the Self’ and Political Resistance in Kant's Notion of Human Dignity: A ‘Critical’ and Novel Explanation
Abstract
This chapter shows that Kant’s notion of human dignity can be understood as a novel ‘care of the self’ and an ‘art of not being governed’. Drawing on a Foucauldian approach, it demonstrates that Kant intends to shape an ethical subject that strives for freedom and self-mastery. It also argues Kant’s idea of dignity embodies a political and spiritual form of resistance against dominant relations of power and subjectivities. Thanks to this novel perspective, this chapter also offers novel insights on the political force of human dignity. With Kant, this notion becomes a ‘government of the self by oneself’.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this chapter has been discussed during the workshop ‘Human Dignity: Alternative Histories’ held on 9 July 2019 at the ‘29th World Congress of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR)’, at the University of Lucerne, an event I co-organised with Stephen Riley (University of Leicester). I am very grateful to the contributors and participants of our workshop, Andrew Buchwalter (University of North Florida), Simone Zurbuchen (University of Lausanne), Katharina Bauer (Erasmus University of Rotterdam), Olga Rosenkranzova (Palacký University Olomouc), Saulo Monteiro de Matos (Federal University of Pará), and Szymon Mazurkiewicz (Jagiellonian University). Their generous and prescient feedbacks helped me to improve my ideas on Kant, Foucault, and human dignity. Also, I would like to thank the observations of the two reviewers of this chapter that have enabled to improve the latter. This work has been carried on under the Marie Sklodowska Curie Action of the European Union, Individual Fellowship ‘HuDig19’, Grant Agreement 101027394 (2021-23).
Finally, this chapter has been carried on thanks to the support and funding of ‘CAPES/PrInt – Edital 41/2017, Professor Visitante Sênior no Exterior – Processo: 88887.512339/2020-00’ and ‘CAPES/PrInt – Cátedra UNESCO: Direitos Humanos e Violência; Governo e Governança – Processo 88881.310228/2018-01’. The author has no conflict of interests to disclose.
Citation
Pele, A. (2022), "‘Care of the Self’ and Political Resistance in Kant's Notion of Human Dignity: A ‘Critical’ and Novel Explanation", Sarat, A., Pele, A. and Riley, S. (Ed.) Human Dignity (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 88), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 3-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-433720220000088001
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022 Antonio Pele