and legal theorists in our respective societies, and knowing that it was the one thing so threatening to totalitarians that they felt the need to eliminate it, why can we not say what it is, why we can we not use it to validate our notions of human and civil rights if not as an organizing principle underlying legitimate government?
The point being: identifying a more comprehensive human rights program is certainly an admirable goal; but is that really possible without determining first what defines human dignity and constitutes a dignified human existence, cross-culturally, within conflict and during good times, for all time? Human dignity and living a dignified human existence have, for example, long been invoked as the principles underpinning social change: the overthrow of colonialism, the abolition of slavery, the advance of worker and women’s rights, the passage of social security, anti-poverty legislation, and the development
of new nations.
But more often than not such justifications
come with a particular Western–or religious– bias, causing one to wonder: Have we really defined human dignity and living a dignified human existence in any meaningful way to people outside the Western tradition, or have we merely made the invocation and written certain documents, believing all people naturally, inherently, understood what it meant?
In other words, have western institutions defined human dignity and living a dignified
human existence in a way that would be
meaningful not only to Americans and other
practitioners of the Western tradition, but to
Buddhists, to Muslims, to Hindus, to the Masai?
The fact we must ask that question demonstrates we don’t know the answer for certain. That is why the question must again be asked; but this time cross-culturally, within conflict and during good times, for all time. Only by asking the question in that manner might a foundation be provided not only for judging historical actions, but also for framing a means through which political concepts and social programs might be developed and evaluated.
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Briefing is a space within each issue of dig.ni.fy, which will be dedicated to exploring various notions of dignity as they come to be expressed through various cultural norms. Information contained within Briefing thus serves to provide context to alternative notions or individual expressions. If you would like to contribute to Briefing, please contact us at: https://www.dignityprojects.com/contact-8 or by clicking here.
Have western institutions defined human dignity and living a dignified human existence in a way that would be meaningful not only to Americans and other practitioners of the Western tradition, but to Buddhists, to Muslims, to Hindus, to the Masai?