Human Dignity
It is a commonly accepted truth that human beings have a special dignity. However, naturalist and modernist philosophies have obfuscated the reasons behind that special dignity, and in some cases have challenged human dignity altogether. Human dignity is a key concept in moral theology, so it is very important to be clear of its meaning and its source.
One reason naturalists and modernists have trouble with the concept of human dignity is because that dignity originates in the fact that we are created in the Image and Likeness of God. The “Imago Dei” is where a proper understanding of human dignity has to start.
What does it mean that we are created in the Image of God? Since it is not in the nature of God to have a physical body, being created in the Image of God obviously does not mean that we look like Him. When Jesus Christ took on human nature, he took on our image and likeness and joined it to His Divine Nature. So, if you are ever challenged by an academia-type with questions like, “If we are created in God’s image then is God white, black, or oriental? Is he man or woman?” you will know that such questions are moot. We are created in God’s Image in three ways – we have an intellect, a will, and the capacity to love. These are spiritual faculties, as God is Spirit. So in a basic sense, human beings are created in the Image of God because we have a spirit, which animals and plants do not have since they are purely physical beings with physical faculties.
However, the connection between the Imago Dei and human dignity does not stop at a distant similarity to God. The intellect and the will play an important role in our relationship with God. God created us to know Him and to love Him. Our intellect allows us to know Him, and our will to freely love Him.
More specifically, God is the source of all that is true and good. We call God Father because the truth and the good all originate from Him and go forth from him like the life-giving elements go forth from the man (see more about the sacramental meaning of gender in the Theology of the Body). Human beings are created with an intellect to receive truth from God (and therefore to know God) and to freely choose (receive) what is good from Him.
Human dignity comes from our ability to receive love, especially from God but also from each other, and to give it.
The divine origin of human dignity is a stumbling block for naturalists and modernists. Sure, naturalists could claim that human beings hold a special place as the most evolved animal, and may even accredit human dignity to the intellect and will because those faculties make us the most adaptive animals. However, such reasoning only weakly promotes human dignity. After all, no matter how highly evolved we are we are still just animals. Time and time again we discover that without God, life has no real meaning.
The connection between dignity and love has far-reaching consequences for moral issues of our times, but perhaps none so much as the issue of Euthanasia. Promoters of mercy killing talk about allowing people to die with dignity. However, if you press them to define human dignity they are not quite able to do so. If they are defining human dignity as the ability to be autonomous or the ability to be productive, they find themselves marginalizing the handicapped, the very young, the very old, and anyone else who does not measure up to their standards of autonomy and productivity. Then they run into the question – at what point does someone lose their dignity and who will set the standards? Do not such questions lead all to easily to tyranny?
The only safe definition of dignity is the inviolable human dignity that comes from the human capacity to give and to receive love. Is somebody in a vegetative state capable of receiving love? Is someone in a coma capable of receiving love? We know the answer in both cases is yes, and science seems to increasingly support the affirmative as studies show that even non-responsive coma patients benefit from the attention of loved ones. While the moral law does not require that we perform heroic measures to preserve human life, the loss of human dignity does not factor into the decision (see Living the Divine Life: Euthanasia). Human beings never lose their dignity. It is inherent in their nature, and it is inherent in their relationship to God.