Dignity : its history and meaning / Michael Rosen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rosen, Michael, 1952-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dignity.

Respect for persons.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 176 p.)

Edition:

Ebook available to selected US libraries only

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Dignity plays a central role in current thinking about law and human rights, but there is sharp disagreement about its meaning. Combining conceptual precision with a broad historical background, Michael Rosen puts these controversies in context and offers a novel, constructive proposal.Drawing on law, politics, religion, and culture, as well as philosophy, Rosen shows how modern conceptions of dignity inherit several distinct strands of meaning. This is why users of the word nowadays often talk past one another. The idea of dignity as the foundation for the universal entitlement to human rights represented the coming together after the Second World War of two extremely powerful traditions: Christian theology and Kantian philosophy. Not only is this idea of dignity as an "inner transcendental kernel" behind human rights problematic, Rosen argues, it has drawn attention away from a different, very important, sense of dignity: the right to be treated with dignity, that is, with proper respect. At the heart of the argument stands the giant figure of Immanuel Kant. Challenging current orthodoxy, Rosen's interpretation presents Kant as a philosopher whose ethical thought is governed, above all, by the requirement of showing respect toward a kernel of value that each of us carries, indestructibly, within ourselves. Finally, Rosen asks (and answers) a surprisingly puzzling question: why do we still have a duty to treat the dead with dignity if they will not benefit from our respect?

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS

1. "THE SHIBBOLETH OF ALL EMPTY-HEADED MORALISTS"

2. THE LEGISLATION OF DIGNITY

3. DUTY TO HUMANITY

NOTES

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674984059

0674984056

9780674068780

0674068785

OCLC:

794412989