Basic Human Worth: Secular and Religious Perspectives

Abstract

In western liberal democracies (and perhaps more broadly), it’s a truism that each human being has a very special and desirable moral status - roughly, that each has a worth, dignity or sacredness that equals that of any other human being. But, if we assume, as I do, that this special moral status is not just a surd, inexplicable fact about human beings, we’ll want to articulate some plausible account of what it is about each and every human being by virtue of which each has that status. After clarifying the claim at issue, I articulate reason to reject the most plausible secular account of what makes it the case that each human being has basic worth and then articulate a theistic alternative.

Keywords: human dignity, religion and morality, just war, equal worth