Human Dignity and the Minimum Existence Level: Philosophical Concepts of Decent Existence and their Implications for Law and Policy of the Welfare State

• Applicant: Dr. Jens Peter Brune
• Subject Area: Practical Philosophy ; Political Science
• Term: from 2021 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 453420147

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

In this research project, various philosophical concepts of human dignity and their normative implications for the interpretation of the framework of fundamental rights and the organisation of social policies were made fruitful and compared. It is intended as a contribution to the understanding of the idea of human dignity in the field of tension between (fundamental) law and social policy. The study is based on two current social developments. The first is the prevailing socio-political trend in all Western countries over the last two decades away from the principles of the 'traditional' welfare state towards the so-called 'enabling' and 'workfare state', also known here as the ‘activating welfare state’. Behind this development lies Antony Giddens' programmatic postulate for politics and law of the welfare state: "no rights without responsibilities". A second tendency is emerging in the jurisdiction of the German Federal Constitutional Court on the basic right to a decent minimum subsistence level and on sanctions in the social security code. According to this jurisdiction, there is an enforceable subjective basic right to social benefits in case of need based on human dignity, but on the other hand these benefits may still be reduced under certain circumstances. The core concerns of the project were firstly to analyse the basic features of social and labour market policies operating within this legal framework and secondly to evaluate them on the basis of various types of theory of human dignity – theories of status, humiliation, ability and self-obligation. Thirdly, the results of these two steps were confronted with alternative models, such as that of "property-owning democracy" (John Rawls, Martin O'Neill, Alan Thomas).

Publications

• Wohlfahrtsstaat und Armut. Handbuch Philosophie und Armut, 298-304. J.B. Metzler.
  Brune, Jens Peter
  
• Grundsicherung. Beitrag im Blog „Zusammenhalt begreifen“
  Brune, J. P.
  
• Grundsicherung. In: Anna Pollmann, Christopher Möllmann (Hrsg.): Schlüsselbegriffe gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalts. Ein kritisches Vokabular, Göttingen: Wallstein (s. Skript „Brune_Grundsicherung.pdf“ im Anhang).
  Brune, J. P.
  
• Menschenwürde und Diskursethik. In: J. C. Joerden, E. Hilgendorf, F. Thile (Hrsg.): Menschenwürde und Medizin.: Ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2. Aufl. 2024.
  Werner, M. H. & Brune, J. P.
  
• Menschenwürde und Existenzminimum. Schwabe Verlag.
  Brune, Jens Peter & Strengmann-Kuhn, Wolfgang (Eds.)
  
• ‚Poverty Owning Democracy’ – eine radikale Alternative zur Grundsicherung? In: J. P. Brune, W. Strengmann-Kuhn (Hrsg.), Menschenwürde und Existenzminimum. Basel / Berlin: Schwabe Verlag.
  Brune, J. P.