The dignity of the corpse: an explanation.

In medico-legal literature, the notion of the "dignity of the corpse" is frequently used as a narrative device, almost romantic in nature, aimed at highlighting the values attributed to it and thereby justifying its defense. The most common explanations tend to focus on its strictly practical effects (in relation to the living), either by pointing to a certain inviolability or by emphasizing some consequences at a symbolic level. Intentionally or not, some of these theories undertake the bold task of explaining the consequences of a phenomenon (the death/dead binomial) while disregarding the study of the material object that sustains this phenomenon, as well as the phenomenon itself. This paper proposes a reflection on the parallels between human dignity (better understood) and the so-called dignity of the dead (practically unknown), advancing an argumentative model (ontological/anthropological) that defends the existence of a 'special dignity of the corpse'. This sui generis dignity demands a sui generis treatment, whose practical applications-both in forensic science and other biological disciplines-can only be determined subsequently, after undergoing moral scrutiny.