Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: a relation to the world of concern
- 2 Values within reason
- 3 Reason beyond rationality: values and practical reason
- 4 Beings for whom things matter
- 5 Understanding the ethical dimension of life
- 6 Dignity
- 7 Critical social science and its rationales
- 8 Implications for social science
- Appendix: Comments on philosophical theories of ethics
- References
- Index
6 - Dignity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: a relation to the world of concern
- 2 Values within reason
- 3 Reason beyond rationality: values and practical reason
- 4 Beings for whom things matter
- 5 Understanding the ethical dimension of life
- 6 Dignity
- 7 Critical social science and its rationales
- 8 Implications for social science
- Appendix: Comments on philosophical theories of ethics
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(United Nations Declaration of Human Rights)[C]aste based discrimination affects one's human dignity and casts shadow on his personality. It strangulates confidence and creates inferiority complex in our generations.
(Surendar Valasai, President of Scheduled Castes Federation of Pakistan)Dignity is a curious, elusive thing, frequently invoked both in high places – in constitutions, political manifestos, declarations of human rights and in moral and political philosophy – and in the protests of the oppressed. It matters to all of us and is yearned for by those to whom it is denied – the oppressed, the dispossessed and the disrespected. Although difficult to define it is something quite ordinary that we sense particularly when it is threatened – when we are treated in a disrespectful, undignified manner, when we do something embarrassing, or when we have to do something we consider to be ‘beneath us’. Maintaining our dignity and being treated in a way which respects our dignity is crucial for our well-being; indeed it is often spoken of as a base-line: ‘at least I left with my dignity intact’; ‘I want to die with dignity’. Our dignity is always at risk – for some more than others, according to their situation; if we fail to maintain it, we are likely to suffer.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Why Things Matter to PeopleSocial Science, Values and Ethical Life, pp. 189 - 215Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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