دانلود کتاب کرامت انسانی (عناصری در فلسفه ایمانوئل کانت)

What is dignity? When we talk about human dignity today, we are interested in the idea that all human beings deserve respect – independently of their race, gender, religion, or social status. The importance of human dignity is emphasized in the main legal, political, and ethical documents that regulate our lives, for example, the UN covenants on human rights, the constitutions of nationstates, or biomedical conventions. These documents often state that human rights “derive from the inherent dignity of the human person” (UN 1967: “Preamble”). The proper response to human dignity is commonly thought to be respect. Respect for all human beings is therefore one of the most important moral commands. Kant even calls it the “supreme limiting condition” (G, 4: 430–1)1 of what someone is allowed to do. Respect is not necessarily the only moral command; there can be special rules in a community or close relationships, for instance, that go beyond respect for dignity. But the rules of respect seem to be the fundamental, universal grid within which there can be more local rules. One first should not be killed, tortured, or defrauded. On this important topic, Kant is one of the main inspirations. Kant is not the first who talks about the dignity of all human beings (cf. Cicero 1913). Kant is also not necessarily the direct cause for why today universal respect has the importance it has (cf. Debes 2021, 2017), he is not necessarily the inspiration for the political revolutions of his time that tried to widen the scope of people who fall under the protection of human dignity (cf. Ameriks 2024), and there are questions whether he himself applied the conception of dignity to all human beings equally (cf. Kleingeld 2007; Lu-Adler 2023). But when we want to understand what respect for dignity is, we turn to Kant. His requirement to respect all human beings is the focal point in the discussion of human rights (cf. Griffin 2008: 151–7), the constitution of states (Dürig et al. 1958: §§1–5), or the proper treatment of medical patients (cf. Beauchamp and Childress 1994: 125).