Más alla de las formas modernas del principio de igualdad. Notas para una transición

• Author: José María Seco Martínez
• Position: universidad Pablo de Olavide
• Pages: 611-630

Revista inteRnacional de Pensamiento Político - i ÉPoca - vol. 16 - 2021 - [611-630] - issn 1885-589X

611

BEYOND THE MODERN SHAPES OF THE

EQUALITY PRINCIPLE. NOTES FOR A

TRANSITION

MAS ALLÁ DE LAS FORMAS DEL PRINCIPIO DE IGUALDAD.

NOTAS PARA UNA TRANSICIÓN

José María Seco Martínez

Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, España

jmsecmar@upo.es

Recibido: julio de 2021

Aceptado: septiembre de 2021

Palabras Clave: Principio de Igualdad, Derechos Humanos; Democracia; Igualdad jurídica; Teoría Crítica

Keywords: Equality principle; Human Rights; Democracy; Legal Equality; Critical Theory

Resumen: La igualdad, como proceso histórico de emancipación humana, tras-

ciende el plano estrictamente jurídico/formal. Además, se ve reforzada por la

voluntad “histórica” de democratizar la sociedad y mejorar la vida de las perso-

nas. Esta es la dimensión materialista del principio de igualdad, en esa dispo-

sición ética e histórica basada en la producción y desarrollo de la justicia social

como criterio y principio de actuación. Los derechos humanos y la democracia,

con sus prácticas y tradiciones de lucha, no pueden entenderse hoy sin la idea

de igualdad como principio necesario. Los derechos humanos siempre han

estado vinculados a procesos de reacción contra las desigualdades. Los dere-

chos humanos, que son derechos y que son humanos, son siempre acciones

que se refieren a seres humanos necesitados. El hecho de que hayan sido

concebidos formalmente bajo el paraguas de la razón normativa no presupone

que deban ser concebidos exclusivamente como derechos individuales, que

exigen su realización en el futuro, como horizontes de posibilidad, sino como

formas de vida que hacen factible la existencia humana –con dignidad– para

todas las personas. La idea de igualdad no es, por tanto, posible sin este juicio

material de la existencia.

Abstract: Equality as a historic process of human emancipation, transcends

the strictly legal/formal plane. Furthermore, it is enhanced by the “historic”

willingness to democratise society and improve people’s lives. This is the

materialistic dimension of the principle of equality, this ethical and historical

“willingness” based on the production and development of social justice as a

criterion and principle for action. Human rights and democracy, with their fighting

practices and traditions, cannot be understood today without the idea of equality

as a necessary principle. Human rights have always been linked to processes

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of reaction against inequalities. They

have been and remain a reaction

to any kind of oppression and/or

domination, because human rights,

which are rights and are human, are

always actions that refer to human

beings in need. The fact that they

were formally conceived under the

umbrella of normative reasoning does

not presuppose that they should be

conceived exclusively as individual

rights, which demand fulfilment in

the future, or even as horizons of

possibility (idealistic vision), but as a

ways of life that make human existence

– dignified existence – feasible for

all people. The idea of equality is,

therefore, not possible without this

material judgement of existence.

1. Introduction

Throughout the history of humanity, vastly

differing reflections have been theorised

about the notion of equality. From Antiquity

to the present day, the experience brought

by years has been punctuated by diverse

conceptions and understandings of

equality. This diversity of approaches or

perspectives on equality has given rise to

the idea held by many authors that equality

is a vague or ambiguous concept, one that

can be understood in very different ways.

In its traditional meaning, held by Ancient

Greek philosophers such as Plato and

Aristotle, and later St. Thomas, the

concept remains ambiguous in its con-

tent. Since then, however, the concept

has evolved to reach a decisive meaning

in the present day for the legitimisation of

political processes.

In ancient Greece, the term Isonomy

(ἰσονομία) referred to what we now know as

“equality before the law” and was decisive

in the emergence of future Athenian

democracy. It basically represented equal

civil and political rights among citizens.

It was the political metaphor that best

synthesised the idea of democracy, as

opposed to the unchecked prerogatives

of tyranny. Interestingly, it was most used

at that time to designate and/or define

democratic regimes, before the concept

of democracy became generalised in the

collective imaginary. Plato offered the first

approach to the idea of economic equality

among all subjects as a fundamental value

for coexistence. Moreover, the Athenian

model of democracy was resolutely

functional to the idea of equality. This

is inferred by Aristotle himself when

he defines democracy as the system

in which isonomy (equality before the

law) coincides with isocracy (equality in

decision-making or before power), and

isogony (equality of all to intervene in

administration, with the same limitations

for access to citizenship status)1.

This philosophy, widespread in Greco-

Roman society, was gradually conceived

with the passing of time and the

arrival from Christianity of the idea of

cosmopolitanism2, by virtue of which all

1. Aristotle himself says, “it is thought that jus-

tice is equality, and so it is, though not for every-

body but only for those who are equals; and it is

thought that inequality is just, for so indeed it is,

though not for everybody, but for those who are

unequal”. Aristotle, Politics III, 9, 1280a

2. From the Greek cosmos (Κόσμος), synony-

mous with universe, and polis (Πόλις), syn-

onymous with city, although this identication

should not detract from the semantic complexity

of the concept of cosmopolitanism, which was

historically varied until it led to the Enlightened

idea of moral universalism. It has always been a

constant in Western tradition, but it has also been

a polysemic concept, forged over time. On the