What's so special about human dignity?
Abstract
Human dignity makes demands on us. It is something we’re supposed to respect. But how? What are these demands? Many consider human dignity to require respect for the moral status of human beings. Others think it requires respect for the autonomy or moral inviolability of persons. This paper argues that dignity’s fundamental concern is with social status – or what we sometimes call “honor.” What it requires is that we avoid humiliating or degrading others, and that we help protect them from such harm, too.
Citation
Etinson , A 2020 , ' What's so special about human dignity? ' , Philosophy and Public Affairs , vol. 48 , no. 4 , pp. 353-381 . https://doi.org/10.1111/papa.12175
Publication
Philosophy and Public Affairs
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0048-3915Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2020 The Author. Philosophy & Public Affairs published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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