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Dignity: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Still Counting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2009

DORIS SCHROEDER
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Abstract

“Dissecting Bioethics,” edited by Tuija Takala and Matti Häyry, welcomes contributions on the conceptual and theoretical dimensions of bioethics.

The section is dedicated to the idea that words defined by bioethicists and others should not be allowed to imprison people's actual concerns, emotions, and thoughts. Papers that expose the many meanings of a concept, describe the different readings of a moral doctrine, or provide an alternative angle to seemingly self-evident issues are therefore particularly appreciated.

The themes covered in the section so far include dignity, naturalness, public interest, community, disability, autonomy, parity of reasoning, symbolic appeals, and toleration.

All submitted papers are peer reviewed. To submit a paper or to discuss a suitable topic, contact Tuija Takala at [email protected].

Type
Dissecting Bioethics
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 118 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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References

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4. Ubuntu can be captured in the sentence “I am because we are.” It denotes an individual's lifelong bond with her community and the duties and privileges derived from the bond. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in his book No Future Without Forgiveness (New York: Random House; 1999, p. 34ff) says: ”Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language. … It is to say, 'My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in what is yours.'”

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17. I retain the term inviolable to capture Kant's demand that dignity cannot be lost through evil conduct; rational beings can under no circumstances lose it. He writes: "I cannot deny all respect even to a vicious man.” See note 11, Kant 1990:110 (463)—my translation. Kant himself did not occupy himself with questions of irrecoverable loss of rationality.

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26. See note 22, John Paul II 1995.

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29. For a justification of this claim, see note 5, Schroeder, Banisadr, forthcoming.

30. This point was suggested to me by Suzy Killmeister and Andrew Alexandra, whom I thank.

31. See note 10, Schroeder 2008.