Suzy Killmister: Two Concepts of Dignity?

Lecture by Suzy Killmister (University of Connecticut), organized by the Department of Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy

Dignity is one of those slippery concepts that are invoked for radically different – and seemingly incompatible – purposes. Dignity is commonly taken to be the quality that people like the Queen and Nelson Mandela have, and that the drunken youth urinating on the street lacks. Just as commonly, dignity is taken to be an inherent feature that all persons share. Dignity demands that we forbid assisted suicide, or that we allow it, depending who we listen to. Dignity is supposedly tied to subjective feelings of humiliation, yet it seems possible to violate the dignity of those without the cognitive capacities to experience humiliation. These tensions and inconsistencies have led...(continue reading...)