Horizons of vulnerability and the problem of human dignity: Ethical and phenomenological assessments

The paper suggests how a phenomenological account of vulnerability, in the context of moral emotions, may address the clarification of the problem of human dignity. In order to present this claim, the paper emphasizes the horizon dynamics involved in the emotional disclosure of the axiological sphere in Husserl’s phenomenology, in regard to some essential aspects of the experience of feeling vulnerable. Afterwards, it is suggested how such consciousness of being vulnerable is connected to the realization of basic values, particularly, the very intrinsic value of human life.