Séneca: ¿creador de los derechos del hombre? Sobre el rol troncal de Séneca en la creación de los Derechos Humanos

On the central role of Seneca in the creation of Human Rights

Abstract

According to our view, human rights in their current configuration are structured on two pivots: on the one hand, on the passive side, human dignity is an insurmountable barrier that everyone must respect, and on the other, on the active side, the feeling of empathy towards the other. To get to this point there has been a long journey that has been shaping an idea that is based on what is perhaps the most basic legal and ethical principle: «neminem laedere». In our opinion, the fight for human rights in any of its dimensions is equivalent to the fight for human dignity since the core of this concept seems to amalgamate and give support to all the others. According to our point of view, the modern conception of dignity is a tribute to Seneca’s ideas. Seneca’s approach develops and proportionates content that seems to be extremely parallel and similar to the conception of human rights nowadays. The Hispanoroman vision changes the way of seeing our fellow human beings, first in the Roman Empire, but afterward, his work is going to be completed a millennium later with the arrival of the enlightened era.