Historicity of Fundamental Rights: a Critical Analysis of Legal Transformations in the Face of Contemporary Challenges

• Published in: RGSA : Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental Vol. 19; no. 6; p. e012661
• Main Authors: Santos, Bertoldo Virginio Dias dos, Virginio, Maria Beatriz Rocha Targino
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 27.06.2025
• ISSN: 1981-982X; 1981-982X
• DOI: 10.24857/rgsa.v19n6-089

Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the legal positions and counterpositions in the historicity of fundamental rights, investigating their transformations and the challenges imposed by contemporary times, with an emphasis on technological innovations, social changes and cultural disputes.   Methodology: The methodology adopted consisted of an integrative literature review, with a survey of articles in databases such as SciELO, Scopus, Google Scholar and Web of Science. Inclusion criteria were used that limited the selection to articles in Portuguese, written by Brazilian authors, published between 2023 and the first half of 2025.   Results: As a result, it was found that fundamental rights are configured as dynamic historical constructions, resulting from political, philosophical and social clashes that reflect the transformations of paradigms and power relations over time, characterized by advances, setbacks and continuous reconfigurations. In the contemporary context, the introduction of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence within the Judiciary presents challenges to the effectiveness of these rights, particularly with regard to equality, transparency and legal certainty, requiring institutional responses that adapt them to historical protection frameworks. Furthermore, recent economic and social transformations, exemplified by the precariousness of work and uberization, have weakened historically achieved social rights, compromising social justice and human dignity. The philosophical analysis of the dilemma between universalism and cultural relativism highlighted the historicity of fundamental rights as a project in constant construction, suggesting the notion of utopia as a hermeneutic instrument capable of overcoming polarizations and increasing the effectiveness in safeguarding human dignity. In this scenario, the relevance of memory spaces in the Brazilian transitional justice process was observed, as essential historical mechanisms for reparation, democratic strengthening and consolidation of human rights, evidencing that the implementation of fundamental rights is an ongoing process that articulates past, present and future, reaffirming their social, political and historical nature.   Conclusion: It is concluded that fundamental rights must be understood as historically constructed legal categories, subject to continuous processes of resignification in the face of social, political, economic and technological transformations. The analysis showed that their effectiveness cannot be dissociated from the historical context in which they are inserted, requiring a critical and dynamic approach capable of responding to contemporary challenges, such as artificial intelligence in the justice system and the precariousness of labor relations. Thus, the need for constant interpretative review of these rights is reaffirmed, in order to ensure their primary function of promoting human dignity and consolidating a fair, democratic and inclusive social order.