What is Dignity?

We all use the word dignity, but what exactly does it mean? Where did it come from and what does it give us? Is it a political concept, a religious one, or both? Why do we have such clear images of what indignity looks like, but stumble at offering a clear definition of its opposite? On this episode we ask these questions, and explore dignity’s relationship to individuality, equality, freedom, and personhood.\nMichael Rosen is Senator Joseph S. Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government at Harvard University. He has worked on a wide variety of topics in philosophy, social theory and the history of ideas. He is particularly interested in 19th and 20th century European philosophy and in contemporary Anglo-American political philosophy. He is the author and editor of numerous books including 2012’s Dignity: It’s History and Meaning, which we are revisiting today.