Dignity is a term used in moral, ethical, and political discussions to signify that a being has an innate right to respect and ethical treatment. It is an extension of enlightenment-era beliefs that individuals have God-given, inviolable rights, and thus is closely related to concepts like virtue, respect, self-respect, autonomy, human rights, and enlightened reason. Dignity is generally proscriptive and cautionary: in politics it is usually synonymous to 'human dignity', and is used to critique the treatment of oppressed and vulnerable groups and peoples, though in some case has been extended to apply to cultures and sub-cultures, religious beliefs and ideals, animals used for food or research, and even plants. In more colloquial settings it is used to suggest that someone is not receiving a proper degree of respect, or even that they are failing to treat themselves with proper self-respect.

While dignity is a term with a long philosophical history, it is rarely defined outright in political, legal, and scientific discussions. International proclamations have thus far left dignity undefined, and scientific commentators, such as those arguing against genetic research and algeny, cite dignity as a reason but are ambiguous about its application.

Philosophy

A philosopher of the Renaissance, Pico della Mirandola, in his 'Oration on the Dignity of Man', spoke in front of hostile clerics of the dignity of the liberal arts and of the dignity and glory of angels. Pico della Mirandola said a man should emulate the dignity and glory of the angels by "exercising philosophy." Pico della Mirandola said a man, if he cultivates what is rational, "will reveal himself a heavenly being; if intellectual, he will be an angel and the son of God." Pico della Mirandola said a philosopher "is a creature of Heaven and not of earth."
A philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant said some things should not be discussed in terms of value, which is necessarily relative (because value depends on an observer's judgment). Kant said those things which are beyond all value have dignity. Kant identified those things which are beyond all value as ends in themselves. Something is an end in itself if it has morality; that is, if it can make choices between right and wrong. Kant said "morality, and humanity as capable of it, is that which alone has dignity.”

Egonsson called the belief that equates dignity with being human the Standard Attitude. Roger Wertheimer called the equating of dignity with humanness the Standard Belief. Egonsson observed that, while some people claim to have the Standard Attitude, they use language which indicates that they have attached conditions other than humanness to their idea of dignity. Wertheimer agreed. He said "it is not a definitional truth that human beings have human status." Egonsson said the minimal conditions which most people attach to their grant of dignity to an entity is that the entity be both human and alive.