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Human Dignity and Political Criticism PDF

292 Pages·2021·2.565 MB·English
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HUMAN DIGNITY AND POLITICAL CRITICISM Many,includingMarx,Rawls,andthecontemporary“BlackLivesMatter” movement,embracetheambitiontosecuretermsofcoexistenceinwhich theworthofpeople’slivesbecomesalivedrealityratherthananempty boast.Thisbookaskswhether,assomebelieve,thephilosophicalideaof humandignitycanhelpachievethatambition.Offeringanewfourfold typologyofdignityconcepts,ColinBirdarguesthathumandignitycan perform this role only if certain traditional ways of conceiving it are abandoned.Accordingly,Birdrejectstheideathathumandignityrefers totheinherentworthorstatusofindividuals,andinsteadreinterpretsitas asocialrelation,constitutedbyaffectsofrespectandthemodesofmutual attentionwhichtheygenerate.Whatemergesisanewvisionofhuman dignityasavitalpoliticalvalue,andanarrestingvindicationofitsroleas anagentofcriticalreflectiononpolitics. colin bird isProfessorofPoliticsattheUniversityofVirginia.Heis authorofTheMythofLiberalIndividualism(CambridgeUniversityPress, 1999), An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Cambridge University Press,2006,2020),andnumerousjournalarticles. HUMAN DIGNITY AND POLITICAL CRITICISM COLIN BIRD UniversityofVirginia UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom OneLibertyPlaza,20thFloor,NewYork,NY10006,USA 477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,VIC3207,Australia 314–321,3rdFloor,Plot3,SplendorForum,JasolaDistrictCentre, NewDelhi–110025,India 103PenangRoad,#05–06/07,VisioncrestCommercial,Singapore238467 CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108832021 DOI:10.1017/9781108937597 ©ColinBird2021 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2021 AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. ISBN978-1-108-83202-1Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. Itissaid,quitecorrectly,thatinantiquitythereexistedno suchnotionasrespectforaperson.Theancientsthought fartooclearlytoentertainsuchaconfusedidea. simoneweil Theonlyintelligiblelanguageinwhichweconversewith oneanotherconsistsofourobjectsintheirrelationto eachother.Wewouldnotunderstandahumanlanguage anditwouldremainwithouteffect.Byonesideitwould berecognizedandfeltasbeingarequest,anentreaty,and thereforeahumiliation,andconsequentlyutteredwith afeelingofshame,ofdegradation.Bytheothersideit wouldberegardedasimpudenceorlunacyandrejected assuch.Wearetosuchanextentestrangedfromman’s essentialnaturethatthedirectlanguageofthisessential natureseemstousaviolationofhumandignity,whereas theestrangedlanguageofmaterialvaluesseemstobethe well-justifiedassertionofhumandignitythatis self-confidentandconsciousofitself. karl marx CONTENTS PrefaceandAcknowledgments pageix parti TheContoursofDignitarianHumanism 1 TheTribunalofHumanDignity 3 2 SomeRemarksonMethod 17 3 PressurePoints 30 4 FourConceptsofDignity 51 partii AgainstTraditionalAccountsofHumanDignity 5 TheInherentDignityofthePerson 69 6 TheInnerOcean 81 7 Passport-Dignity 96 partiii ARevisionistApproach 8 Dignity-Revisionism:ChallengesandOpportunities 113 9 CommercialandHumanEconomies 126 10 MarxonValueandValorization 140 11 LoveandRespect:AttentionalCurrencies 162 12 AttentionalPrecedence 179 13 HumanDignity 199 14 AfterRespect 219 15 HumanDignityandPoliticalCriticism 239 Bibliography 267 Index 273 vii

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