Become what you are: On the value of the concept of human dignity as an ethical criterion in light of contemporary critiques

Bijdragen

Volumn 70, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 45-66

  Kirchhoffer, David G ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN   (Belgium)

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EID: 81555223705     PISSN: 00062278     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2143/BIJ.70.1.2035293     Document Type: Article

References (54)

1. Chaskalson, Arthur. 2002. “ ‘Human Dignity as a Constitutional Value,’ in ”. In The Concept of Human Dignity in Human Rights Discourse The Hague:Kluwer. David Kretzmer and Eckart Klein 137
2. Wils, Jean-Pierre. 1989. “ ‘The End of ‘Human Dignity’ in Ethics?’ trans. Gordon Wood ”. In Concilium 203, special column (:39–54. Wils raises similar concerns in his article and comes to a similar conclusion regarding the necessary multi-dimensionality of the concept of human dignity. However, his approach is different in that, via an historical-systematic analysis, he seeks to classify various types of dignity according to their methodological presuppositions. The model presented in the current article focuses instead on the semantic aspects of human dignity independent of the concept's historical development
3. Bagaric, Mirko, and Allan, James. 2006. “ ‘The Vacuous Concept of Dignity,’ in ”. In Journal of Human Rights 267–269. 5
4. 1965. Gaudium et Spes Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (References to Gaudium et Spes will be given as GS followed where necessary by the paragraph number being referred to, e.g. GS, 24
5. Eberstadt, Mary. 1991. Gaudium et Spes Edited by:Weigel, George, and Royal, Robert. See ‘’ in A Century of Catholic Social Teaching, ed. (Washington, D.C.:Ethics and Public Policy Centre,:81–82. See also GS, 12
6. Dwyer, John C., 2004. “ ‘Person, Dignity of,’ in ”. In The New Dictionary of Catholic Social Thought Edited by:Dwyer, Judith A., See ed. (Collegeville:The Liturgical Press, 1994); see also Stephen J. Pope, ‘Natural Law in Catholic Social Teachings,’ in Modern Catholic Social Teaching:Commentaries and Interpretations, ed. Kenneth R. Himes (Washington.D.C.:Georgetown University, 53–54, who identifies four key features:“a new openness to the modern world, a heightened attentiveness to historical context and development, a return to scripture and Christology, and a special emphasis on the dignity of the person.
7. Hollenbach, David. 2004. “ ‘Commentary on ”. In Gaudium et Spes Edited by:Himes, Kenneth R., ’ in Modern Catholic Social Teaching:Commentaries and Interpretations, ed. (Washington, D.C.:Georgetown University, 277
8. Alberigo, Giuseppe, ed. 2006. History of Vatican II Peter Hünerman, ‘The Final Weeks of the Council,’ in, volume V, ed. English version ed. Joseph A. Komonchak, trans. Matthew J. O'Connell (Mary-knoll and Leuven:Orbis and Peeters, 424
9. 1965. Gaudium et Spes. We shall focus on Part I of Part II is not addressed here because the analysis of Part I is sufficient for our purposes. Part II focuses on more concrete problems and is therefore of less theoretical value in this research. Of course, Gaudium et Spes is not the only Church document that makes mention of human dignity. A notable example would be the Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis humanae (Nevertheless, despite its title, the latter's use of the notion of human dignity is primarily fa support of the notion of religious freedom, whereas in Gaudium et Spes, human dignity is the basis of a theological anthropology that is developed in order to provide orientation to the much broader discussion of the role of human beings and the Church fa the modern world
10. Miles, Margaret R., 1987. “ ‘Hermeneutics of Generosity and Suspicion:Pluralism and Theological Education,’ in ”. In Theological Education 34–52. See 23, Suppl
11. 2008. The New Republic See, for example, Steven Pinker, ‘The Stupidity of Dignity:Conservative Bioethics’ Latest, Most Dangerous Ploy,’ in, May 28, 2008; available at http://www.tnr.com/story_print.html?id=d8731cf4-e87b-4d88-b7e7-f5059cd0bfbd; Internet; accessed 27 December
12. See GS, 12
13. Moeller, Charles. 1969. “ ‘History of the Constitution,’ in ”. In Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II Edited by:Vorgrimler, Herbert. Vol. V, 4–5. Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, ed. (New York and London:Herder and Herder/Burns & Oates
14. GS, 12
15. See GS, 22
16. Pope John Paul, II. 1981. Familiaris Consortio Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II to the Episcopate, to the Clergy and to the Faithful of the Whole Catholic Church on the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World
17. GS, 16:“Conscience frequently errs from invincible ignorance without losing its dignity. The same cannot be said for a man who cares but little for truth and goodness, or for a conscience which by degrees grows practically sightless as a result of habitual sin.[1]
18. See GS, 16
19. GS, 14
20. GS, 9:“…it devolves on humanity to establish a political, social and economic order which will growingly serve man and help individuals as well as groups to affirm and develop the dignity proper to them. As a result many persons are quite aggressively demanding those benefits of which with vivid awareness they judge themselves to be deprived either through injustice or unequal distribution.” See also GS, 31:“Now a man can scarcely arrive at the needed sense of responsibility, unless his living conditions allow him to become conscious of his dignity[1],…
21. GS, 9
22. GS, 21
23. See also GS, 27:“…whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury.
24. 264–265. Bagaric and Allan, ‘The Vacuous Concept of Dignity,’
25. Dunn, James D.G., 2006. The Theology of Paul the Apostle Grand Rapids:Eerdmans. See, among others, paperback edition 461–493, for a detailed elaboration of this tension in Paul's writings
26. Verstraeten, Johan. 2005. “ ‘Catholic Social Thought as Discernment,’ in ”. In Logos:a Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 94–111. 8, 3 also seems to identify this theme of the Already and the Not Yet as being central to the reading of Gaudium et Spes and particularly to understanding its implications for human moral activity:“being linked ‘with humankind and its history by the deepest of bonds’ (GS,1), the people of God are called to contribute to the humanization of the world in view of the coming of the kingdom of God. But this is not an easy task, since it confronts the Church with the real ambivalence of history—a history characterized by both positive trends and destructive developments, by a tension field between life-giving forces and tendencies leading to a culture of death. Such positive developments can be soteriologically confirmed and articulated as signs of the times anticipating the kingdom of God, which is on earth ‘already present in mystery’…“, p. 99
27. GS, 3
28. GS, 4 and 7
29. GS, 12
30. 1962. ‘De ordine morali christiano,’ “Humanae personae dignitas in eo sita est, quod homo ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei factus, et natura sua immediate ad Deum ordinatus, rationis lumen, liberae electionis potestatem, amoris flammam, rerumque corporalium dominum a Deo accepit.” in Schemata Constitutionum et Decretorum de Quibus Disceptabitur in Concilii Sessionibus, Series I (Typis Polyglottis Vaticanus,:73–96. The earlier preparatory document ‘De ordine morali’ in Acta et Documenta Concilio Oecumenico Vaticano II Apparando, series 2, volume 3, part 1 (Typis Polyglottis Vaticanus, 1969):24–53 discussed by the Central Preparatory Commission in January 1962 put the chapter on dignity before the chapter on sin, thus making it chapter IV. Neverless, it contains similar language
31. Incidentally, this association of the imago Dei with particular capacities also overcomes one of the problems of the reductionism that Bagaric and Allan apply in their analysis, i.e. that since the claim that human dignity has a divine origin is a matter of faith and cannot be verified, human dignity itself should be called into question. But these human capacities are observable, meaning that one can affirm human dignity regardless of one's religious beliefs
32. GS, 19
33. GS, 19
34. Erhueh, Anthony O., 1987. Vatican II:Image of God in Man Rome:Urbaniana. 78. Erhueh traces the history and meaning of the term Imago Dei in GS. He includes an analysis of the use of the term in the various preparatory documents, including the Vota et Consilia Episcoporum and the so-called Seventy Schemata
35. Vorgrimler, Herbert, ed. 1969. Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II Vol. V, GS, 19. See also Joseph Ratzinger, ‘The Dignity of the Human Person,’ inPastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, ed. (New York and London:Herder and Herder/Burns & Oates,:146. “The faith that man is a partner speaking with God, called to enter into a community of love, created to see and love him, guarantees man a dignity which no one else can give him.
36. See, for example, GS, 4, 10, 12, 13, and 18
37. Pope, Stephen J., See also ‘Natural Law,’ 54:“The doctrine of the incarnation generates a powerful sense of the worth of each person.
38. GS, 22
39. GS, 41
40. Boeve, Lieven. 2006. “ ‘De Crisis van Europa:Een Zaak van Geloof of Ongeloof?’ ”. In Bijdragen, International Journal in Philosophy and Theology See 67 (:156
41. For example, GS, 39 states, “…the expectation of a new earth must not weaken but rather stimulate our concern for cultivating this one. For here grows the body of a new human family, a body which even now is able to give some kind of foreshadowing of the new age.
42. Abbot, Walter M., ed. 1962. The Documents of Vatican II “As we undertake our work, therefore, we would emphasize whatever concerns the dignity of man Indeed, the Council Fathers appear to state that the dignity of the human person is one of the primary ends of the Council itself, GS, 19. See also The Second Vatican Council, ‘Message to Humanity,’ in, ed. and trans, ed. Joseph Gallagher (London:Geoffrey Chapman, 1966) 5. This statement released nine days after the start of the Council clearly names the dignity of the human person as a moral good to which Christians are called to direct their activities….
43. 2005. Mens van God, God van mensen:Leuvense theologen in gesprek met kardinaal Godfried Danneels See also Johan Verstraeten, ‘Mensenrechten en Menselijke Waardigheid:Katholiek Sociaal Denken als Inspiratiebron,’ in, eds. Mathijs Lamberigts and Leo Kenis (Antwerp:Halewijn,:222, who presents a similar interpretation of GS, 17 with regard to the relationship of freedom, reason and conscience to dignity
44. For example, “For its part, authentic freedom is an exceptional sign of the divine image within man.” GS, 17
45. But it is necessary to distinguish between error, which always merits repudiation, and the person in error, who never loses the dignity of being a person [1]even when he is flawed by false or inadequate religious notions.” GS, 27
46. Despite its strong emphasis on the requirement for faith in order to truly live out human dignity, GS does acknowledge the possibility that dignity can be achieved without it. “All this holds true not only for Christians, but for all men of good will in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way. For, since Christ died for all men, and since the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery.” GS, 22. See also Moeller, “History”, 50–51, 60 who mentions on several occasions that those tasked with drafting the texts went to great lengths to use language of universal appeal
47. See, for example, GS, 9, 27, and 31
48. GS, 12. See also David Hollenbach, ‘Commentary…,’ 279, who argues that the “Council strongly emphasized the social nature of the person and stressed the implications of sociality for its understanding of justice. It challenged all individualistic notions of human dignity….
49. 23–24. GS
50. Vorgrimler, Herbert, ed. 1969. Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II Vol. V, Rom 13:19, See GS, 24. In addition, “the fact that the human person, although or because he is a self-contained creature loved by God for his own sake, can only truly find himself by meeting and giving himself to others, has its deepest ground in the fact that his Creator himself subsists in three persons who are constituted by their mutual relationships.” Otto Semmelroth, ‘The Community of Mankind,’ inPastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, ed. (New York and London:Herder and Herder/Bums & Oates,:166
51. Himes, Kenneth R., ed. 2004. Modern Catholic Social Teaching:Commentaries and Interpretations See GS 4–8; see also See also Stephen J. Pope, ‘Natural Law in Catholic Social Teachings,’ in, ed. (Washington, D.C.:Georgetown University, 53–54; John C. Dwyer, ‘Person, Dignity of,’ in The New Dictionary of Catholic Social Thought, ed. Judith A. Dwyer (Collegeville:The Liturgical Press, 1994)
52. GS, 39
53. It is a heuristic device in the sense that it provides us with a frame of reference whereby, by helping us to order what we know regarding each of the Component Dimensions and Complementary Dualities, we can determine what kind of understanding of human dignity is operational in a particular ethical argument
54. Gilligan, James. 1997. Violence:Reflections on a National Epidemic New York:Vintage. See