Human Dignity and Human Rights

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Unit 3

• Human Dignity and Human Rights
• Soraj Hongladarom
• Department of Philosophy and Center for Ethics of
  Science and Technology,
• Chulalongkorn University

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Universal Declaration

• Article 3
• (1) Human dignity, human rights and fundamental
  freedoms are to be fully respected.
• (2) The interests and welfare of the individual
  should have priority over the sole interest of
  science or society.

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Outline

• Concept of Human Dignity
• Definition and Analysis
• Cultures
• Histories
• Justifications and Theories
• Concept of Human Rights
• Definition and Analysis
• Cultures, Histories
• Theories and Justification

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Outline

• Applications of these concepts in bioethics
• Doctor-patient relationship
• Rights of Patients
• Treatment of patients with dignity
• Problems
• Do embryos have dignity?
• What about human tissues?
• Individual vs. Community?
• Others.

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Human Dignity

• Dignity the quality of being worthy of esteem
  or respect
• Etymology
• One has dignity when one is accorded respect by
  others hence, dignity seems to be a relational
  concept.
• However, some may think otherwise.

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Dignity in Cultures

• All cultures have a concept of dignity, but in
  ancient times not all people had the same
  dignity.
• The nobles were more dignified than the
  commons.
• This changed with Christianity (in the West). Cf.
  Nietzsches genealogy of morals.

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Dignity in Asian Cultures

• Broadly the same as the West.
• Ancient Indian caste system certain groups were
  more dignified and cleaner and purer than
  others.
• This changed with Buddhism.

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History

• Though the idea of all human beings deserving
  equal respect dated back to the ancient times,
  actual implementation of the idea into social
  reality started in earnest with the advent of
  modernity in the 16th century.
• The idea came with mercantile interests and the
  rise of capitalism.

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Justification and Theories

• The Hindus justified their caste system through
  referring to different origins of the different
  castes.
• Buddhist changed that to actions performed by the
  individuals themselves.
• The same was roughly the case for the pagan
  Romans and the Christians (Nietzsche).

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• The moderns justify human dignity by referring to
  the human capability of reasoning.
• Never treat a human being as a means, but always
  as an end (Kant).

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Kant

• Act in such a way that you treat humanity,
  whether in your own person or in the person of
  another, always at the same time as an end and
  never simply as a means.

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Human Rights

• The conception of human rights follows from that
  of human dignity.
• By talking about rights, it is meant that humans
  are entitled to some protection by the state,
  which has to take active stance in enforcing the
  rights.
• A kind of protection that the state is obliged
  not to encroach and also ensures that nothing
  else can do so either.

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What are Rights?

• There have been many discussions and debates of
  the nature of rights.
• The Natural Rights theorists believe that rights
  belong to humans in about the same way as height
  or weight.
• However, this theory is challenged by those who
  view rights more as a positive concept, something
  arising out of the use of legal power.

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Examples

• The Magna Carta
• The Bill of Rights
• The Universal Declaration on Human Rights
• The Constitution of Thailand (2007)

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Cultures

• Human rights become controversial when different
  cultures seem to perceive it differently.
• Some have argued that it is a Western product or
  Western invention, which means it is not
  compatible with the cultural contexts of Asia.

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• This argument has been made often in the 90s as
  a result of attempts to politicize human rights.
• But respect for human rights transcends politics.
  It is not merely the case that the Universal
  Declaration was promulgated as a political tool
  for the West to oppress the rest. This would be
  self contradictory.

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Justification

• Human rights are often justified by referring to
  the concept of human dignity, or the intrinsic
  worth of a human being.
• Capability of reasoning is crucial. For Kant, it
  seems that entitlement to rights follows
  logically from one who is capable to think on
  ones own.
• So if robots can think on their own, then
  robots have to be accorded rights.

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Specific Examples

• Total lack of respect for human dignity and
  rights resulted in recent history in the
  atrocities performed, for example, by German
  doctors in name of scientific experiment on Jews.

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• Most hospitals in Thailand hang a placard stating
  the rights of patients.
• But it remains to be seen to what extent these
  rights are actually observed and enforced.
• There is an ingrained attitude that technical
  matters should be left to technicians.(Doctors
  know best.)
• These concepts are the underpins of the
  requirement for informed consent in participation
  in research projects.

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Case Study

• Last year the Thai government issued compulsory
  licensing of three drugs--two for AIDS and one
  for heart disease. The main rationale was that
  the Thai citizens have a right to health care,
  and the government has to do everything within
  its power to guarantee the right.
• However, the attempt was seen to infringe on the
  right of the patent holders to market their
  products within the patent period.

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Questions

• How are we to think of this issue? Is there a
  common ground according to which this issue can
  be satisfactorily resolved?
• Whose rights are being violated by issuing, or
  not issuing, compulsory licensing?

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Questions

• Based on your own experiences in your
  communities, what are the issues that concern
  human rights or rights of patients the most?
• What have been done to solve the problem? What
  should be done in the future?