“Non canis, sed homo”: Menschenwürde und Ehre in der Naturrechtslehre Samuel Pufendorfs

The aim of the author, in this essay, is to analyze the concept of hu¬man dignity and its difference from that of honour in Samuel Pufendorf’s Natural Law theory. Human dignity is - according to this philosopher - the moral basis of sociality as the fundamental proposition of his Natural Law. More precisely, the concept of dignitas individui is based on the comparison between man and animal. And what distinguishes the former from the latter within this comparison is the disposition of man to be ethically hound, i.e. to do one’s own duly ori condition of reciprocity. Moreover, from the subjective point of view human dignity is characterized by the feeling of self-esteem. On the contrary Pufendorf defines the honour as a moral entity, and more exactly as the “moral quantity” (quantitas moralis), through which individuals are compared and valued in social life.