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Dignity in humans involves the earning or the expectation of personal respect or of esteem. To esteem persons or things means assignment of a high value to them. Esteem for persons or things assesses their value as high.

Contents 1 Intrinsic versus Extrinsic 1.1 Intrinsic 1.2 Extrinsic 2 Dignity and goodness 3 Dignity and freedom 4 Other comments 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

When viewed as an intrinsically defined quality, any newborn already has his or her dignity, as he or she has a soul. The soul's presence is encompassing; just as one cannot have half a soul, one cannot have only half of one's dignity. The intrinsically-defined concept of dignity is therefore an infinite concept, suggesting that the highest worth that manifests in each person is their dignity, and that even an infant has dignity equal to that of an adult. Thus, dignity is not a quality of being highly valued, but is intrinsically the highest human value itself.

According to Webster's dictionary, the word dignity means the quality of being worthy of esteem or honor; worthiness; i.e., the quality of being highly valued.

When viewed as an extrinsically defined quality, an infant has less dignity than an adult because people are born without all their final qualities. The socio- psychological repercussions of an extrinsically defined conception of dignity arise from the beginning of life, wherein people's dignity is first subjected to a variety of judgments from others. People thus learn to perceive their dignity as a number of finite, measurable qualities -- in the same extrinsic way that others evaluate them. Moreover, people learn to judge others extrinsically as well, and they forget about the ideal (intrinsic) meaning of the word dignity.

To do goodness to a person means to increase their dignity. It is painful for a person when someone disrespects the person. It is because respect elevates the person's value, his or her dignity; disrespect humiliates. When parents ask their teenagers for respect, they actually ask their children to do goodness to their parents. When relationships are already too bad, disrespect is mutual. Teenagers especially need their dignities to be highly appreciated. They crave for their parents’ respect, not in return for their respect, but for the sake of their dignity. If parents do not understand this fact and continue to complain, to accuse, to blame, they continue to encroach upon their children’s dignities. They continue doing the opposite to goodness; i.e., evil. Thus, from both sides, people dig the "tunnels of evil" (Simon Soloveychik).

Instead, asking for forgiveness is the first step to begin doing goodness to other person, to increase the other person’s dignity. Thankfulness is another act of goodness. Admiration, care, excitement about another person, these actions are parts of love, which is the greatest goodness and which always elevates dignity.

The difficulty in human relationships comes from the fact that there are two related movements: from man to the world, and from the world to man. If from childhood a person's dignity is guarded, the person forms the right image of him/herself, and of the world. There is a cliché: "I am OK, and you are OK"; however, the humiliation of human dignity begins in childhood and people get used to it, they acquire low self-esteem, lose their sense of value for their dignity, and learn to not value the dignity of others as well. Thus, from generation to generation as a contagious disease, human dignity continues to be encroached upon and requires some form of defense in order to retain value intrinsically, as goodness needs defense from evil.

Society is free when it has free people. People are free when they have learned the truth about themselves, when they carry the truth with dignity, when they are internally free. Internal freedom is freedom from fear to be judged, to be charged a low price, freedom from doubts about dignity.

The only fear an intrinsically free man does have is fear of losing his honor. A free man is afraid to go against his conscience. When one encroaches upon another, this person receives an internal message of doing something wrong, doing evil. This message about what is good and what is evil is called conscience. However, when a person is encroached upon by another, with the same message about the perceived violation of justice that is raised in the encroached upon person's soul, feelings of indignation are raised. Indignation is caused when someone's dignity is encroached upon by another. The process of validating a person's dignity makes them feel freer, because it is the process of personality liberation.

Society knows freedom when its people know dignity.

• Note, of course, that not all expressions of respect confer dignity. One can respect and/or esteem the skills of (say) criminals while despising those same criminals, disrespecting their persons and affording them no dignity at all...

• The first sentences in the constitution of Germany translate as: "Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.

• Bob Dylan released a song, entitled "Dignity", dealing with the struggle of people to gain and achieve dignity, on his 1994 album Greatest Hits Volume 3.

• Pop star Hilary Duff is also releasing a new album entitled Dignity. Duff says "Dignity is something you can't just have, you have to work for it!". The album also features a song entitled "Dignity" which talks about how celebrities in Hollywood have no dignity and how everything they do is superficial.

• Human rights
• Indignation

• Righteous indignation

• Pride
• Self-esteem
• Self-concept
• Self-respect

1. Dignity, article from educational site Upbringing by Soloveychik
2. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy \ Respect

• Emotional Competency Entry describing Dignity.

v • d • e Emotions

Alertness • Acceptance • Affection • Ambivalence • Anger • Angst • Anticipation • Anxiety • Apathy • Bitterness • Boredom • Calmness • Compersion • Contempt • Confusion • Depression • Despair • Disappointment • Disgust • Doubt • Ecstasy • Embarrassment • Emptiness • Enmity • Enthusiasm • Envy • Epiphany • Fanaticism • Fear • Frustration • Gratification • Gratitude • Grief • Guilt • Happiness • Hate • Homesickness • Hope • Horror • Humiliation • Jealousy • Limerence • Loneliness • Love • Lust • Melancholia • Panic • Pity • Pride • Rage • Regret • Rejection • Remorse • Repentance • Righteous indignation • Self-pity • Serenity • Shame • Shyness • Suffering • Surprise