Abstract

In the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, August 26, 1789, the possession of human rights is subject to the condition of birth and to a particular stipulation: only one who is born a man in entitled to human rights. Birth, that is, the manifestation of a body according to natural laws in a social world, is the condition by which a being comes to personhood. According to a long tradition in moral theology and sacred embryology examined here, human identity is recognized at birth by the possession of a ‘human form.’ The difficulty lies in defining this ‘form,’ and in determining if it extends to beings formed or transformed by human industry. This article looks into the conditions necessary to recognize or grant human rights to trans/posthuman individuals.