Human dignity brings out a lot of questions in the areas of justice and equality in the society
Writer Taraprasad Mishra
JAJPUR,JULY 27 : Dignity is the quality of being honourable, noble, excellent or worthy. With a human regarded as the most supreme living creature, dignity, in its appealing sense, is better referred to as human dignity.
It is the conceptual basis for the formulation and execution of human rights and is neither granted by the society nor can it be legitimately granted by the society. An imperative implication of human dignity is that every human being should be regarded as a very invaluable member of the community with a uniquely free expression of their right to life, integrated bodily attributes and their spiritual nature. Human dignity is a sense of self-worth.
Therefore, dignity is a sense of pride in oneself that a human being has with them. This conscious sense makes them feel that they deserve respect and honour from other human beings. Many scholars argue that if a human being is in a humiliating or compromising situation then this is a major threat to their dignity.
However, other human persons may still assert that they have dignity even though they find themselves in such situations. All in all, humans deserve dignity not because of their lifelong achievements but by the fact they are already human beings .
The question of human dignity has hit the headlines world over in the recent past. The pre-colonial period has been used as the base reference for crimes against humanity and abuse of human dignity, thence redefinition of the term human dignity by international law courts and the United Nations. Human dignity has been defined from the philosophical, religious and legalistic perspectives.
The deep philosophical roots of the term human dignity were articulated by Emmanuel Kant, a great philosopher of the famous late Enlightenment. He is considered as the source of the now contemporary concept of human dignity. He holds that the fundamental principle behind moral duties of human beings is a categorical imperative.
According to Kant, imperative means that it commands us to exercise our wills in a particular way. As a result, human beings with respect for human dignity should not possess any irrational wills against their fellow human beings and the generally acceptable societal norms and values. And according to Emmanuel Kant, the only thing we should will about is our happiness as human beings.
Once we have happiness we’ll be able to enjoy good health and nourish proper relationships (Sensen Oliver, 2011). Human dignity should operate on the basis of volitional principles or maxims. Hence, the basic rational requirements and morality should be the primary demands that apply to these maxims which motivate all our actions.
The legal perspective of the concept of human dignity was coined at the end of the Second World War. It has been regarded as the central perspective that discourses human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all humans have been born with equality in dignity and rights. For this reason, they are endowed with enough reason and pure conscience, hence should acts towards one another with a deep spirit of brotherhood.
In its preamble, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights seeks for recognition and respect for the inherent dignity as well as the equal and inalienable rights of every member of the human dignity despite where they come from, their religious beliefs or background history.
It is clear from various case studies that the question of human dignity brings out a lot of questions in the areas of justice and equality in the society. It affects societal norms and generally accepted principles.
For instance, no society allows a human being to kill a fellow human being. Critically looking at all the three perspectives from whence the issue of human dignity arises, it is important to look at all of them because without one perspective, several factors surrounding human dignity cannot be properly articulated. Therefore, all the three perspectives should be used depending on the situation bringing the issue of human dignity to question.
