Capital Punishment and the Contradiction of Human Rights: From the Denial of Life to the Logic of War

This paper argues that the death penalty is not only a moral or political problem, but a structural contradiction within the modern state. The state proclaims the inviolability of basic human rights, yet simultaneously authorizes the denial of the right to life through the institution of capital punishment. This contradiction is not isolated: it mirrors, on a smaller scale, the justification of war as the collective denial of the right to life. By examining this dynamic, the paper warns of the dangers of popularizing justice through emotional discourse, and emphasizes the necessity of a structural critique to resist both death penalty and war.