Human dignity

Jaber, D (2000) Human dignity and the dignity of creatures , Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 13 (1/March), 2000, 29 12. 

Man is ideally a governor, not a producer of energy for at least two good reasons for a matter of human dignity (it is preposterous to insist that man should do the work that can be done by a donkey or a machine) and because man-developed energy is enormously more polluting than any other. This apart, any consideration on work affects economy and productivity. 

With an older population, higher demand, increasing cost and limited resources we have problems to satisfy all needs and priorities. These priorities and decisions are hard to do for the practitioner in relation to the patient and to the society. Priorities should be based on the three ethical principles (human dignity, needs and solidarity, cost-effectiveness) described in Box 3.7. Greater needs (severe diseases and low quality of life) and the weakest people (i.e. the elderly) should have priorities. Cost-effectiveness principles should only be used when comparing treatment methods for the same disease. 

Human dignity principle every individual should have equal value and equal rights of personal characteristics and functions in society Needs and solidarity principle resources should be committed to the people or activities having the greatest need... 

The process should increasingly include evaluation of opportunity costs of government reimbursement (for social justice and human dignity reasons) in the health system as a whole. 

The fundamental dignity of humans that sets us apart from animals lies in the fact that we do not take our sensual impressions as being identical to objective reality, but that we doubt and can resolve our doubts through intellectual activity—research. This factor of human dignity is suspended in Germany in this particular field, (cf. Article 1, of German Basic Law). 

Science and Human Values The Sense of Human Dignity (p. 82)... 

As is the case with all aid relief workers, nurses are accountable for preservation of the human dignity of those in their care. Nurses must be able to operate within the context of the International Red Cross Red Crescent Code of Conduct and display sensitivity to the political and cultural complexity of disaster situations. 

When, as we must often do, we fear science, we really fear ourselves. Human dignity is better served by embracing knowledge. 

Special Features Corporate citizenship, rooted in two basic ethical ideals kyosei (living together) and human dignity. The Caux standard encompasses CSR practices comprehensively. 

To date, the Federal Constitutional Court as the highest court in constitutional matters has delivered no decision on the interpretation of the Basic Law in this question. Yet a number of its decisions seem to imply that the right to human dignity in conjunction with the social state principle establishes a positive duty of the state to secure minimum conditions for a life worthy of human beings, thus correlating with a negative duty to prevent state intervention in the subsistence minimum. 

Hence, neither the state guarantees regarding human dignity nor the social state principle provide the basis for a definition of the level of basic income support as a minimum level of resources (soziokulturelles Existenzminimum) needed in order to safeguard existence and participation in society. It is the responsibility of parliament to define this standard in accordance with constitutional principles. This refers to the principle of demanding (Fordern) stipulated in 2 SGB II. Need for help is defined in 9 SGB II and is only given if life cannot be sustained by individual effort and resources, in particular if there is not sufficient income from suitable jobs. 

Kass and his committee members broadcast a related message in Human Cloning and Human Dignity The Report ofthe President s Council on Bioethics—we... 

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