Derechos bioculturales: perspectiva filosófica

Biocultural rights have served as a theoretical basis for the declaration of the Whanganui (in New Zealand) and Atrato (in Colombia) Rivers as subjects of law. The theoretical figure of biocultural rights has been widely analyzed from the law. However, there are also philosophical aspects relevant to study, such as the ontological, epistemological, and ethical transformations that are possible to glimpse thanks to the incorporation of the worldviews of local communities (indigenous and ethnic). Thus, this article seeks to examine the ontological, epistemological, and ethical aspects present in biocultural rights and their theoretical precedents. The methodology employed is a hermeneutic analysis of foundational texts on the subject. In addition, the paper will also exemplify some aspects by using the Colombian Constitutional Court’s Sentence T-622/16, which declares the Atrato River as a subject of rights.