ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a brief overview of the debate between humanist and political approaches in order to show that some of the key functions of the humanist core of human rights practice, most notably those of the concept of human dignity, have not been properly identified. It briefly indicates what these key functions are, and illustrates some of the problematic implications of leaving the concept of human dignity out of account of human rights practice. The chapter focuses on the recent extension of legal human rights to corporations. It analyzes the negative effects that the distinctive functions of human rights norms – such as limiting state sovereignty, prompting transnational remedial action, and so on – can have upon the human rights of natural persons once corporations are recognized as legal persons bearing human rights. The chapter explores the normative resources that the jurisprudence of dignity may have to offer.
