Human Dignity and Bioethics

Dignity and Bioethics | 471
very recently, dignity was almost never invoked by moral theologians
in making arguments about abortion, euthanasia, or economic
justice. 3
Neither was dignity an important concept for all Western moral
philosophers. For instance, dignity was not an important word for
Plato or Aristotle. The first Western philosophers for whom dignity
was an important philosophical term were the Roman Stoics. Cicero
and Seneca, especially, used the word to designate important concepts
in their moral philosophies.
Cicero defined dignity as “the honorable authority of a person,
which merits attention and honor and worthy respect” (dignitas est
alicuius honesta et cultu et honore et verecundia digna auctoritas). 4 He
used the word dignitas frequently in his writings. As one translator
put it, the meaning of dignitas in Cicero’s use is literally “worthiness,”
but he often used it (as did others in his day) to refer to a person’s
standing, reputation, or even office in the civitas. 5 Importantly,
in Cicero’s account, this dignitas is not so much dependent on the
subjective evaluation of others as it is on the ability of everyone to
recognize an instance of true human excellence. For example, in De
Officiis, Cicero writes,
If we wish to reflect on the excellence and dignity of our
nature, we shall realize how dishonorable it is to sink into
luxury and to live a dainty and soft lifestyle, but how honorable
to live thriftily, strictly, with self-restraint, and soberly.
Atque etiam, si considerare volumus, quae sit in natura excellentia
et dignitas, intellegemus, quam sit turpe diffluere luxuria
et delicate ac molliter vivere, quamque honestum parce, continenter,
severe, sobrie. 6
In other words, for Cicero, one’s standing in the community ought
to be based on one’s true excellence. For him, to have dignity was to
have a merited degree of respect from others because of one’s excellence
as a human being.
The Stoic use of the term, however, is not the only historical
conception of dignity. Hobbes, for instance, defined dignity in a
very different way. He eliminated any necessary connection to true