Introduction: the vulnerability challenge
| Autor | Lucia Re |
| Cargo | Prof. University of Florence, Italy |
| Páginas | 1-14 |
Periódico do Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre Gênero e Direito
Centro de Ciências Jurídicas - Universidade Federal da Paraíba
V. 5 - Nº 03 - Ano 2016 International Journal
ISSN | 2179-7137 | http://periodicos.ufpb.br/ojs2/index.php/ged/index
1
DOI: 10.18351/2179-7137/ged.v5n3p1-14
INTRODUCTION: THE VULNERABILITY CHALLENGE
Lucia Re1
Abstract: The essay presents a discussion of
vulnerability theory from a philosophical and a
sociological perspective. The success of this
new paradigm in the social sciences and even
in the public discourse appears justified by the
need to rethink the institutions and social ties
of late modernity, also from a gender
perspective. It is undoubtedly a fascinating
prospect, but one that conceals numerous
pitfalls. In particular, ideas of agency, conflict,
emancipation and solidarity, which are closely
connected with fundamental rights theory and
the development of constitutionalism may lose
importance. The vulnerability paradigm, rather
than eclipsing the language of rights, could
then be used to interpret these rights, to define
them with increasing accuracy and reinforce
their effectiveness. In particular, the bottom-up
construction of an emancipatory notion of
vulnerability may well lead to an auspicious
update of the interpretation of the principles of
dignity, equality and solidarity, principles that
nevertheless still appear today as
indispensable.
Keywords: vulnerability, security, feminism.
1 Prof. University of Florence, Italy. Email: lucia.re@unifi.it.
The relationship between strength,
power and law is one of the major problems of
Western political and juridical philosophy. In
particular, much of modern political and
juridical debate deals with the role of
institutions in ensuring security. In his
Rassurer et protéger. Le sentiment de sécurité
dans l’Occident d’autrefois, Jean Delumeau
(1989) states that in many European languages
there came into being, between the fifteenth
and seventeenth centuries, a neologism derived
from the Latin securitas, which expressed the
concept of security. In Italian the word
sicurezza emerged during the Renaissance in
place of the older sicurtà, while in Spanish the
term seguridad replaced the previous
segurança. In the same period, in English, in
addition to safety there emerged the word
security. Lastly, in French, during the
seventeenth century, the term sécurité took its
place beside sureté. This linguistic change was
indicative of a cultural change. It signaled the
emergence of a new way of thinking, which
had to do with the role of the community in
ensuring security. The need to conceive of
security in new terms was linked to a new
dimension of individual freedom. As Zygmunt
Bauman (1999) has shown, turning on its head
the analysis Freud made in Da s Unbehagen in
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