Dignity : : Its History and Meaning / / Michael Rosen.
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 la...
Saved in:
Superior document: | Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter E-BOOK GESAMTPAKET / COMPLETE PACKAGE 2012 |
---|---|
VerfasserIn: | |
Place / Publishing House: | Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2012] ©2012 |
Year of Publication: | 2012 |
Edition: | Ebook available to selected US libraries only |
Language: | English |
Online Access: | |
Physical Description: | 1 online resource (200 p.) |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
Other title: | 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 |
---|---|
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? |
Format: | Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web. |
ISBN: | 9780674065512 9783110288995 9783110294057 9783110294040 9783110756067 9783110442205 |
DOI: | 10.4159/harvard.9780674065512 |
Access: | restricted access |
Hierarchical level: | Monograph |
Statement of Responsibility: | Michael Rosen. |