Human Agency, Dignity, and the Law
A special issue of Laws (ISSN 2075-471X).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2021) | Viewed by 588
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Recent developments in philosophy/theory of law have opened new research opportunities. The "traditional" focus on the concept and nature of law has been significantly complemented with additional fields. The particularly promising area of interest is that of human personhood, or human agency, scrutinized with a view to its relations with, and implication for, the law. Traditionally, the unique character of the human being, manifesting itself in human actions, was taken for granted. Recent decades have put this traditional picture of the human being as a rational agent endowed with free will into serious doubt. While some people would thus argue to "naturalize" our notions of agency, and extend to cover also nonhuman animals or robots (AIs). Some are still claiming that the human being, with her unique personhood and dignity, is the primary focus and aim of legal systems. This dispute constitutes an opportunity for both sides to sharpen their arguments and establish better understanding of their key claims. While human reality in general may be studied in countless ways, the more specific issue of the meaning of human agency for legal arrangements, as well as the very concept of law, needs further scholarly attention. The main scientific goal of the proposed Special Issue is therefore to develop reflections which will allow conceptualization of agency, its alleged impact on law. The range of topics for the Special Issue is, therefore, the following:
- Does the term "human action" signify something that is uniquely human—a free, reasoned activity, revealing the unique, unrepatable agent? Or, alternatively, the beliefs about distinctively personal character of human action should be abandoned, and nonhuman animals as well as robots should be regarded as capable of agency?
- What are the implications of agency for human dignity in the law? Can we uphold human dignity as a meaningful legal value without assuming unique character of human agency?
- What kind of "free will" does the law need? Can we "naturalize" free will as a psychological fact of a noncontrolled behavior, or some deeper, metaphysical notion of free will is necessary to hold people legally responsible for their deeds?
- Does the theory of legal personhood need a theory of human agency? What elements of the latter, if any, are needed to construe a theory of the legal subject, or the legal person? Is it the case that rights and duties are conditioned by agency in the metaphysical sense of the term, or they depend solely on folk beliefs and social conventions?
The contributions from lawyers, ethicist, philosophers, political theorists and cognitive scientists are welcome for this Special Issue.
Dr. Michał Rupniewski
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- agency
- personhood
- human dignity and law
- moral responsibility
- legal responsibility
- free will
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