Lexical Definition Of Human Dignity

First, it is imperative to define human dignity. The lexical definition of human dignity is “the state of being worthy of honor or respect.” Meaning to say that a person is worthy of honor or respect means that that person has human dignity. There are two types of dignity, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic dignity means that the fact that one is human makes that person worthy of respect. To recognize respect for a person is to acknowledge that that person has dignity. On the other hand, a certain position or achievement gives a person extrinsic dignity which can be taken away if that position or achievement is also taken away. In addition, Immanuel Kant defined dignity as a “personal property.” He asserted that human is dignified not only

She argues that dead bodies no longer have dignity since they are no longer humans but cadavers. Indeed, one requirement to say that one has human dignity is to have the capacity for reason which in turn requires one to be alive. However, there is such a thing as “residual contingent dignity” that dead bodies possess. The existence of such dignity calls for the protection of the dead bodies from being used for medical practices without the consent of the person before he died. Therefore, the medical ethicists who said that using dead bodies for educational efforts violate dignity were right. Keeping dead bodies from being used in medical practices is not solely for the respect for the wishes of the living but also to protect their residual contingent dignity. The third argument is that the use of the concept of human dignity without a clear meaning against human reproductive cloning is to use a mere slogan. Macklin used the report of the US President’s Council on Bioethics entitled “Human Cloning and Human Dignity” as an example of using the concept of human dignity as a mere slogan against reproductive cloning because the report is said to have no analysis on how dignity relates to ethical principles. However, the report’s fifth chapter, The Ethics of Cloning-to-Produce-Children, substantiated

In this process, the child cannot be called a product of manipulation of the parents. In contrast, thru in vitro fertilization, parents are able to select and specify the characteristics they want their child to have. Thus, the children born in this process are regarded to as “made objects” and not as equal human beings. Because of this, the human dignity of the “made objects” is undermined. The report linked in vitro fertilization, which imitates the natural reproduction of children, and human dignity, which is not protected in the process, a contrast to the statement in the article that the report did not give the connection between the