Pufendorf on Natural Equality, Human Dignity, and Self-Esteem

Abstract

It is often maintained that Samuel Pufendorf founded natural equality on human dignity. This article partly questions this interpretation, maintaining that the dignity Pufendorf attributed to human nature did not indicate the Kantian idea of absolute and incomparable worth but only superiority in relation to other animals. This comparative dignity of humanity implied that all humans are equally obliged to obey natural law, but it did not offer a foundation for the similarity of their innate duties. The latter followed from the fundamental principle of natural law, the duty to maintain sociality, and from observations concerning human self-esteem.