DIGNITY OF (NON-HUMAN) ANIMALS IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

The human species has become a geological force capable of irreparably impacting the planet, ushering in a new era called the Anthropocene. One of the main affected by this has been non-human animals, however, while the former enjoy protection of their fundamental rights and dignity, the latter have historically been treated as property and have been denied dignitary recognition. Given the damage caused to the planet and consequently to other forms of life, it is worth asking: can we speak of the dignity of animals in the current era? To answer this, the article reviews the concept of dignity, and then discusses, based on the literature, the elements that would exclude animals from said formulations. It is argued that, given the geological stage we are going through, we cannot continue to deny that animals do have dignity regardless of how we conceptualize the term. It is concluded that it must be recognized that there is dignity in other beings, since there is no absolute border in the definitions of human dignity that is capable of including the entire species and at the same time excluding other animals.