En el umbral de la modernidad. Humanidad, derechos, Conquista

The debate on the conquest of America presents paradoxical aspects of universalism and particularism. Sepúlveda again proposes the Aristotelian anthropology of inequality, emphasizing the superior humanities of Spanish Christians with respect to the “barbarian” Indians, but, at the same time, theorizes universal belonging to humanity and the consequent obligation of the former to submit to the seconds. Vitoria elaborates a theory of natural rights but uses it to legitimize the wars of conquest and, at the same time, considers the “barbarians” as amentes and / or children. The universalism of Las Casas emerges in the overthrow of the theory of just war and in the attribution of subjective rights - before everything, equal freedom - for all individuals and peoples, as well as in the capacity to recognize cultural differences, the dignity of “other” ways of life, the importance of contexts for the implementation of the principles. It refers to a possible decline of the dialectic between universalism and particularism that deepens our conscience even in the face of the tragedies of today.