Lunchtime Lecture
What’s So Special About Human Dignity? – Adam Etinson
Thursday, October 10, 2019; 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM
Kimmel Center, Room 912
60 Washington Square South
New York, NY, 10012
Abstract: Human dignity makes demands on us. It is something we’re supposed to “respect.” But what are these demands? And what does it take to respect them? On these practical questions, contemporary philosophers tend, by and large, to fall into two camps. First, there are those who understand human dignity to require respect for moral status, or one’s status as a rights-bearer. And second, there are those who understand concerns about human dignity to be, in essence, concerns about autonomy or the inviolability of persons. In this talk, I argue that neither of these views are correct. Dignity’s concern is with social status – or what we sometimes call “honor.” What it requires is that we avoid humiliating or degrading others, and that we help protect them from such harm, too.
Bio: Adam Etinson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophical, Anthropological, and Film Studies at the University of St Andrews. His work explores topics in ethics, political philosophy, moral psychology, and social epistemology. He recently edited the interdisciplinary volume, Human Rights: Moral or Political? (OUP, 2018). He is Assistant Director of the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs (CEPPA). And he is a member of the editorial board of The Philosophical Quarterly.
