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Natural Good Theories and the Value of Human Dignity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

SEBASTIAN MUDERS
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Abstract:

One of the widely recognized facts about human dignity is its vastly divergent applicability—from highly controversial issues in bioethics to broader topics in political philosophy. A group of theories that this article subsumes under the header “natural good theories” appears to be especially fitted for normatively multifaceted notions like dignity. However, the heavy normative weight the concept of dignity has to bear due to the central position it occupies within these theories creates its own difficulties. As is shown in a discussion of Martha Nussbaum’s capability conception of dignity, dignity appears to be unable to mirror the special normative relevance people want to assign to it in cases of great moral misconduct. The article provides a suggestion on how to solve this problem by means of paradigmatic cases that work as material constraints regarding the exact boundaries of dignity violations.

Keywords

human dignitynatural goodMartha Nussbaumparadigmatic casesspecial normative relevance of dignity
Type
Special Section: Responsibility, Vulnerability, Dignity, and Humanity
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , April 2016 , pp. 239 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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References

Notes

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13. A further qualification apparent in the first sentence of the current paragraph is the phrase “aiming to give a satisfying general account of the concept”: I do not deny that there are a number of theories on human dignity that deliberately confine their analysis to a specific usage of its concept without caring much about the implications for other applications of the term. In contrast, our present enterprise is to see whether a group of normative theories with promising perspectives regarding a general account of human dignity do have the philosophical resources to provide such a conception.

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25. See note 16, Nussbaum 2006, at 363.

26. See note 15, Nussbaum 2000, at 72.

27. See note 19, Nussbaum 2011, at 41.

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31. See note 9, Kaufmann et al. 2010, at 1f.

32. See note 9, Kaufmann et al. 2010, at 2.

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36. See note 15, Nussbaum 2000, at 87.

37. See note 16, Nussbaum 2006, at 373.