Human Dignity and the Foundation of Moral Values

Why Are We Worthy Human Beings?

Every human being deserves to be addressed and treated with the utmost consideration and respect. Being worthy of treatment as a person means recognizing fundamental rights that are equal for all:

• Political and civil rights
• Economic, social, and cultural rights

We are committed to treating others as people. We all have rights, but we also have duties to perform. We are committed to our responsibilities, not only by respecting the rights of others but also by claiming them.

Capacities of Our Moral Life

There are two types of elements in our moral life. On one hand, we have a number of materials or capacities with which we build ourselves as people; on the other hand, we have referents or paths that serve as a guide.

Referents of Our Moral Life: Values

Values are the referents of our moral life; all our attitudes are based on them. They are qualities of things or people that attract us. Positive values attract us, while negative ones repel us. Every positive value corresponds to a negative contrast. There are values that we consider superior to others, which is why we prefer them in our choices.

When we know the values that a person prefers, we know their way of being quite closely. There are aesthetic, economic, religious, and life values. To be considered a moral value, the following requirements must be met:

1. Voluntary Incorporation: Moral values are those that we can incorporate into our lives with more or less effort. They are voluntary.
2. Personal Qualities: Moral values are personal; that is, they are qualities that only people can possess.
3. Universality: They are universal, meaning we think everyone should appreciate them. This applies to anyone seeking to live as a person—that is, anyone who wants to treat themselves and others as persons, regardless of their pure substance.

Moral Standards and Rules

By standards, we understand a rule, an order, or a command. There are rules of very different kinds: religious, political, social, and moral. The differences are as follows: the moral standard is formulated by a person's own conscience, the recipients are all people, and it responds to a specific type of feeling, which is remorse. One can expect obedience from all human beings.

Moral standards incorporate a guide for certain moral values in our lives. Every moral norm must be based on a value; otherwise, it would lose its significance as a moral norm.