This paper briefly traces the origins of human dignity and its present-day usage. It then points out the different philosophical, historical, and ecological currents that minimize or deny dignity. In the end, it presents a summary of a correct vision of human beings in relation to their surroundings from a Christian perspective.
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References
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See HaffnerPaulTowards a Theology of the Environment (Leominster: Gracewing, 2008), 71–105.
2.
For an excellent and thorough examination of this debate, see President's Council on Bioethics, Human Dignity and Bioethics (Washington, D.C.: President's Council on Bioethics, 2008). See especially, in this volume, Adam Schulman, “Bioethics and the Question of Human Dignity,” 3-18; Daniel Sulmasy, “Dignity and Bioethics: History, Theory and Selected Applications,” 469-504.
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See SingerPeterRethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995); H. Tristam Engelhardt, Jr., The Foundations of Bioethics (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996).
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See CaplanArthur“Dignity Is a Social Construct” (December 24, 2003), http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/327/7429/1419#44646; Ruth Macklin, “Dignity Is a Useless Concept,”British Medical Journal327 (2003): 1419–1420.
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See, for instance, FukuyamaFrancisOur Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution (New York: Picador, 2002); Jürgen Habermas, The Future of Human Nature (Cambridge: Polity, 2003).
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Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, instruction Dignitas personae (On Certain Bioethical Questions) (2008), n. 7.
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For a complete development of Catholic thought on human dignity and human rights, see International Theological Commission, Propositions on Dignity and Rights of the Human Person (1983; Maynooth: Furrow Trust, 1985).
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See KraynakRobert P.“Human Dignity and the Mystery of the Human Soul,” in President's Council on Bioethics, Human Dignity and Bioethics, 63.
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Kraynak, “Human Dignity and the Mystery of the Human Soul,” 65. See SkinnerB.F.Beyond Freedom and Dignity (New York: Bantam Vintage, 1972).
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ChurchlandPatricia S.“Human Dignity from a Neurophilosophcial Perspective,” in President's Council on Bioethics, Human Dignity and Bioethics, 116.
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FletcherJosephHumanhood: Essays in Biomedical Ethics (New York: Prometheus Books, 1979), 85.
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See HughesJames H.Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future (Cambridge, MA: Westview Press, 2004); idem, “Embracing Change with All Four Arms: A Post-Humanist Defense of Genetic Engineering,” Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 6 (1996): 94-101.
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See PenceGregory E.Who's Afraid of Human Cloning? (Lanham, MD: Row-man & Littlefield, 1998).
This claim has been proven false in recent years. Humanity, especially Western societies, is entering a demographic winter. See SchooyansM., The Demographic Crash: From Fatalism to Hope (1999; St. Louis: The Central Bureau, 2001); Philip Longman, The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do about It (New York: Basic Books, 2004); Ben J. Wattenberg, Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2004).
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BenedictPopeXVI encyclical Caritas in veritate (2009), n. 51, original emphasis.
