O imperativo categórico como fundamento e dimensão central da dignidade humana

Abstract

The principle of human dignity, one of the fundamental principles of the Brazilian Republic, is norm of particular importance to the protection of the person against actions and omissions of particulars and the State. Nonetheless, the idea of dignity is quite undetermined, and, therefore, vulnerable to opportunistic and inadequate uses, which may distort its meaning and empty its content, weakening its normative power. In order to face this problem, the present paper intends to use the Categorical Imperative, the supreme moral principle formulated by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, based on the idea of moral autonomy, as a way to ground the principle of human dignity and give it more accurate outlines. In order to better clarify the relationship between the Categorical Imperative and the principle of human dignity, it was sought initially to analyze the normative systems of Law and morals, the relations between them and the ways by which moral principles can enter the legal order. Finally, it was presented the contents of the Categorical Imperative, its condition of possibility and it was proposed a way in which this moral principle can justify and clarify the principle of human dignity.