Of Wild Beasts and Bloodhounds: John Locke and Frederick Douglass on the Forfeiture of Humanity

The doctrine of the image of God is often regarded as grounding human dignity in something permanent and unchanging that transcends our attitudes and behaviors. Yet we persistently encounter the argument that particular human individuals or groups have acted so as to forfeit their moral standing as...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:  
Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics
Autor principal: Herdt, Jennifer A. (Autor)
Tipo de documento: Electrónico Artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Verificar disponibilidad: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Gargar...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Publicado: Philosophy Documentation Center 2021
En: Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics
Clasificaciones IxTheo:KAH Edad Moderna
NBE Antropología
XA Derecho
Acceso en línea: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Descripción
Sumario:The doctrine of the image of God is often regarded as grounding human dignity in something permanent and unchanging that transcends our attitudes and behaviors. Yet we persistently encounter the argument that particular human individuals or groups have acted so as to forfeit their moral standing as fellow humans. They are bestialized, categorized as non-human animals, lifting ordinary restraints on punishment. I examine the logic of this argument in John Locke, Thomas Aquinas, and contemporary felony disenfranchisement, showing how it involves slippage between the unobjectionable notion that specific rights may in particular circumstances be forfeited, and the deeply troubling claim that one's moral standing as human can as such be forfeited. I argue that an apparently similar rhetoric of dehumanization employed by Frederick Douglass, in contrast, refrains from stripping the opponent of moral considerability.
ISSN:2326-2176
Obras secundarias:Enthalten in: Society of Christian Ethics, Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics