Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine

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The nature of human dignity is among the most basic queries about the essence of humanity, and research in this area can produce results that may be applied to various health related topics. There is a need for defining comprehensive criteria for the bio-human in order to protect human rights and other values that are attributable to human biology.The present paper first attempts to determine whether abstraction is the base of human dignity, as opposed to contraction. The authors argue that the former may not be the case, as dignity is value-based and therefore implicates moral orders. Such issues cannot be abstracted from external existence, so one can assume contraction to be the base of human dignity. In that case, contraction requires a contractor or an origin for contraction. Self-contracted values are invalid and worthless, and by the same token, external existences are incapable of dignity. Therefore, a stable contractor is required to justify stability and the native essence of contracted dignity, and only God can be that stable, conscious, senior contractor.Among the criteria for dignity, the authors focus on those essential characteristics that differentiate humans from other organisms, and argue that these could be considered as the basis for dignity.

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The criteria for human dignity are among the most important topics associated with the concept. Some related questions are what makes man worthy of dignity, and what properties make him more dignified than other creatures? Although biological classifications of species should be considered in humanities, research on dignity must focus on differences that are fundamental and separate humans from all other species. Morphological, genetic and communal differences cannot be the criteria for dignity, and behaviors are subject to individual outlooks. This manner of reasoning guided scholars to categorize humans on the basis of wisdom, but the author of the present article believes that wisdom cannot be the criterion for dignity. There is a degree of intelligence and wisdom in other creatures that is not sufficient to make a fundamental differentiating factor. Like other faculties, wisdom may be regarded as an instrument for a better life. The authors believes that the “authority” to choose (that is, free will) is the essential difference between humans and other creatures because the latter are driven only by their structures or needs. This authority enables people to choose between good and bad or desirable and undesirable, and shapes most human values. Consequently, this authority creates the basis for dignity and any given type of choice passes its value on to the chooser.