ALÉM DO SUJEITO CARTESIANO: o direito das coisas

Ana Paula Lemes de Souza; Waldir Severiano de Medeiros Júnior

doi:10.36674/mythos.v17i2.1053

Authors

Ana Paula Lemes de Souza University Center of Southern Minas Gerais - UNISMG
Waldir Severiano de Medeiros Júnior Centro Universitário do Sul de Minas - UNISMG https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9605-6468

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36674/mythos.v17i2.1053

Keywords:

Legal subject, Anthropocene, Subject-object dichotomy, Legal posthumanism

Abstract

In the present essay, we problematize modern law’s inability to recognize non-human materialities—ecosystems, animals, algorithms, and synthetic entities—due to its historical dependence on the Cartesian subject-object dichotomy and the individualist logic of subjective rights. Starting from the epistemological crisis generated by the Anthropocene and the advancement of artificial intelligences, the question arises: how can legal theory be rethought beyond the anthropocentric category of “person,” historically constructed to include/exclude the so-called “things”? The general objective is to reflect on the constitutive function of legal categories in defining what counts as a “subject,” addressing two lines of inquiry: (i) analysis of the “person” apparatus as an exclusionary mechanism; (ii) investigation of alternative proposals, such as “rights without a subject,” “trans-subjective rights,” and “sentient-centered rights,” which seek to integrate non-human interests into law without reproducing hierarchies. The methodology combines a critical review of legal thought, dialogue with posthumanist theories, and historical-philosophical analysis, aiming to contribute to a legal theory capable of responding to the ethical and ontological challenges of an era marked by the entanglement of elements that modern science has sought to separate (nature and culture, subject and object, mind and body, human and animal, organism and machine).

Author Biographies

Ana Paula Lemes de Souza, University Center of Southern Minas Gerais - UNISMG

Ph.D. candidate in Law at the National Faculty of Law of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (FND/UFRJ). Master in Law from the Faculty of Law of South Minas Gerais (FDSM). Researcher, writer, columnist, essayist, professor, and attorney. Has experience and academic interest in the field of legal theory, with emphasis on philosophy, anthropology, and legal sociology. Works mainly on the following interdisciplinary topics: political ecology; environmental thought; studies of science and technology; theories of decision and justice; relations between law, science, and politics; feminist theory. Capes - PrInt Institutional Internationalization Program scholarship holder for a doctoral sandwich program, conducting doctoral research at the University of Coimbra from January to June 2024. Leader of the Research and Study Group on Law and Arts (Geda) and of Extension Projects in the Law courses at Grupo Unis (Varginha-MG). Author and coordinator of academic works in the fields of law and ecology. Author and co-author of national and international articles in scientific journals.

Waldir Severiano de Medeiros Júnior, Centro Universitário do Sul de Minas - UNISMG

Postdoctoral Researcher (2025), Ph.D. in Law (2021), and Master of Laws (2016) from the Faculty of Law at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (FDUFMG). Full scholarship recipient under the ProUni/Federal Government program (2006–2011). At the undergraduate level, has teaching experience in foundational (propedeutic/zetetic) legal disciplines and Public Law courses. At the graduate level, teaches Development Theories and serves as an advisor in the Master’s Program in Management and Regional Development at UNIS-MG. Research activities are situated at the intersection of Law, Philosophy, and Economics, with a focus on themes such as the counter-history of the philosophy of law; theories of justice; critique of libertarian free-will assumptions as a foundation of punitivism and meritocracy; critical-determinist foundations of legal imputability; theories of property; economic development as social eudaimonism; and the interfaces between law and the arts. Coordinator of the “Law and Arts” Study Group and of extension projects within the Law programs of Grupo UNIS (Varginha-MG and Três Pontas-MG campuses). Legal Consultant (OAB-MG 216.370).

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