Understanding Human Dignity

Edited by Christopher McCrudden

A British Academy Publication

Proceedings of the British Academy

Outstanding calibre of contributors to the volume, including Baroness Hale of Richmond and the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols
International team of contributors from UK, USA and Europe
Includes a section on application of theory to current political debates, e.g. abortion, same-sex marriage, socio-economic rights, religious freedom and animal rights

Understanding Human Dignity

Edited by Christopher McCrudden

A British Academy Publication

Proceedings of the British Academy

Description

Understanding Human Dignity aims to help the reader make sense of current debates about the meaning and implications of the idea of human dignity, a concept that has probably never been so omnipresent in everyday speech, or so deeply embedded in political and legal discourse. In many of the central debates of our time (such as those concerning torture, abortion, same-sex marriage, global justice, human rights, and welfare reform), appeals to dignity are prominently on display. The concept of dignity is not only a frequent feature of political debate, but also, and increasingly, of legal argument. Indeed, courts tell us that human dignity is the foundation of all human rights. But the more important it is, the more contested it seems to have become. There has, as a result, been an extraordinary explosion of recent scholarly writing about the concept of human dignity. This book aims to reflect on current debates about human dignity in law, philosophy, history, politics, and theology, through a series of original essays from specialists in these fields, exploring this contested concept in its full richness and complexity.

Understanding Human Dignity

Edited by Christopher McCrudden

A British Academy Publication

Proceedings of the British Academy

1. In Pursuit of Human Dignity: an introduction to current debates, Chris McCrudden
Part I: Historical perspectives
2. Dignite/ Dignidade: Organizing Against Threats to Dignity in Societies After Slavery, Rebecca J. Scott
3. Wurde des Menschen: Restoring Human Dignity in Post-Nazi Germany, Christopher Goos
4. The Secret History of Constitutional Dignity, Samuel Moyn
5. Constructing the Meaning of Human Dignity: Four Questions, Catherine Dupre
6. Human Dignity: Experience and History, Practical Reason and Faith, David Hollenbach
Part II: Dignity critiques
7. Dignity: the Case Against, Michael Rosen
8. Socio-economic rights, basic needs and human dignity: A perspective from law's front line, Connor Gearty FBA
9. The Triple Dilemma of Human Dignity: a case study, Christoph Mollers
10. The Concept of Human Dignity: Current usages, future discourses, Bernard Schlink
11. Dignity Rather Than Rights, John Milbank
Part III: Theological perspectives
12. Dignity, Person and Imago Trinitatis, James Hanvey
13. Human Dignity and the Image of God, Janet Soskice
14. Dignity as an Eschatological Concept, David Walsh
15. The Vanishing Absolute and the Deconsecrated God: a theological reflection on revelation, law and human dignity, Tina Beattie
16. A Christian Theological Account of Human Worth, David P. Gushee
Part IV: Philosophical perspectives
17. Human Dignity as a Foundation for Human Rights, John Tasioulas
18. In Defence of Human Dignity: Comments on Rosen and Kant, Thomas Hill
19. Citizenship and Dignity, Jeremy Waldron FBA
20. Human Dignity, Human Rights, and Simply Trying to do the Right Thing, Roger Brownsword
Part V: Judicial perspectives
21. Human Dignity: The constitutional value and the constitutional right, Aharon Barak
22. Dignity in a Legal Context: Dignity as absolute right, Dieter Grimm
23. Human dignity in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, Jean-Paul Costa
Part VI: Applications
24. Justifying Freedom of Religion: does dignity help?, Julian Rivers
25. Which Dignity? Which Religious Freedom?, Patrick Riordan
26. From Imago Dei to Mutual Recognition: the Evolution of the Concept of Human Dignity in the Light of the Defence of Religious Freedom, Sergio Dellavalle
27. A Communion in Good Living': Human Dignity and Religious Liberty beyond the Overlapping Consensus, Joel Harrison
28. Dignity and Disgrace: Moral Citizenship and Constitutional Protection, Edwin Cameron
29. The Dignity of Marriage, Christopher Tollefsen
30. Response to Tollefsen and Cameron, Robert P. George
31. Dignity and the Duty to Protect Unborn Life, Reva Siegal
32. Is dignity language useful in bioethical discussion of assisted suicide and abortion?, David A. Jones
33. Dignity, Choice, and Circumstances, Denise Reaume
34. Human dignity, interiority, and poverty, Clemens Sedmak
35. Dignity as Perception: Recognition of the Human Individual and the Individual Animal in Legal Thought, Joseph Vining
Part VII: Ways forward?
36. The good sense of dignity - six antidotes to dignity fatigue in ethics and law, Matthias Mahlmann
37. Human Rights, Human Dignity, and Human Experience, Paolo Carozza
38. Discourses of Dignity, Gerald L. Neuman
39. Dignified Disciplinarity: Towards a Transdisciplinary Understanding of Human Dignity, Alexandra Kemmerer

Understanding Human Dignity

Edited by Christopher McCrudden

A British Academy Publication

Proceedings of the British Academy

Author Information

Christopher McCrudden, FBA, is Professor of Human Rights and Equality Law at Queen's University, Belfast; Leverhulme Major Research Fellow (2011-14), and William W Cook Global Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. A Fellow of the British Academy, he is the author of numerous titles, including Buying Social Justice (OUP, 2007).

Contributors:

Baroness Hale of Richmond FBA (Justice of the Supreme Court)
Vincent Nicols (Archbishop of Westminister)

Christopher McCrudden FBA (Law, Queens University Belfast/Michigan)

Rebecca Scott (History/Law, Michigan)
Christoph Goos (Law, Bonn)
Samuel Moyn (History, Columbia)
Catherine Dupré (Law, Exeter)
David Hollenbach (Theology, Boston College)
Michael Rosen (Political Theory, Harvard)
Conor Gearty FBA (Law, LSE)
Christoph Möllers (Law, Humboldt)
Bernhard Schlink (Law, Humboldt/Cardozo)
John Milbank (Theology, Nottingham)
James Hanvey (Theology, Heythrop)
Janet Soskice (Theology, Cambridge)
David Walsh (Politics, Catholic University of America)
Tina Beattie (Theology, Roehampton)
David Gushee (Theology, Mercer)
John Tasioulas (Philosophy, UCL)
Thomas Hill (Philosophy, North Carolina)
Jeremy Waldron FBA (Political Philosophy/Law, NYU/Oxford)
Roger Brownsword (Law, Kings)
Aharon Barak (Law, Herzliya)
Dieter Grimm (Law, Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin)
Jean-Paul Costa (Law, International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg)
Julian Rivers (Law, Bristol)
Patrick Riordan (Political Philosophy, Heythrop)
Sergio Dellavalle (Law, Turin/Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg)
Joel Harrison (Law, Columbia)
Edwin Cameron
Christopher Tollefsen (Philosophy, South Carolina)
Robert George (Philosophy, Princeton)
Reva Siegel (Law, Yale)
David A Jones (Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford)
Denise Réaume (Law, Toronto)
Clemens Sedmak (Theology, Kings)
Joseph Vining (Law, Michigan)
Matthias Mahlmann (Law, Zürich)
Paolo Carozza (Law, Notre Dame)
Gerald Neuman (Law, Harvard)
Alexandra Kemmerer (Law, Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin)

Understanding Human Dignity

Edited by Christopher McCrudden

A British Academy Publication

Proceedings of the British Academy

Reviews and Awards

"The carefully crafted editorial structure of the book and thoughtfully reflective narrative of this chapter is testament to McCrudden, who addresses the topic with evident enthusiasm and an obvious breadth of human dignity knowledge." -- European Journal of Health Law