@article{1479124,
      recid = {1479124},
      author = {Rosen, Michael, },
      title = {Dignity : Its History and Meaning /},
      pages = {1 online resource (200 p.)},
      abstract = {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?},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/1479124},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674065512},
}