Understanding Human Dignity

April 14, 2014
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EDT
Location: Berkley Center third floor conference room Map

In debates on torture, abortion, same-sex marriage, and welfare reform, appeals to human dignity are seldom hard to find. And the concept of dignity is not only a prominent feature of political debate, but also, and increasingly, of legal argument. Indeed, courts tell us that human dignity is the foundation of all human rights. But the more important it is, the more contested it seems to have become. There has, as a result, been an extraordinary explosion of scholarly writing about the concept of human dignity in law, political philosophy, and theology.

Christopher McCrudden discussed these issues within the framework of his book Understanding Human Dignity (2014), which aims to reflect on intra-disciplinary debates about dignity in law, philosophy, history, politics, and theology. A panel of experts participated in a discussion about the themes that have emerged from McCrudden's work. David Hollenbach, S.J., moderated the discussion.

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Panelists listen to a question from an attendee.

Featured Participants

Christopher McCrudden Toggle

About Christopher McCrudden

Christopher McCrudden is Professor of Human Rights and Equality Law, Queen’s University Belfast, and William W. Cook Global Law Professor at the University of Michigan Law School. During the 2013-2013 academic year McCrudden is a Straus Fellow at the Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law & Justice. He is also a fellow of the British Academy and visiting professor at the University of Oxford, where he previously taught human rights law. His work concentrates on issues of equality and discrimination and the relationship between international economic law and human rights. He is the author of Understanding Human Dignity (2014) and Buying Social Justice: Equality, Government Procurement, and Legal Change (2007), as well as numerous journal articles. In addition, he serves on the European Commission’s Expert Network on the Application of the Gender Equality Directives. He received his L.L.B. at Queen’s University Belfast, L.L.M. at Yale University, and Ph.D. at Oxford University.

Christopher McCrudden's Profile

Other Participants

David Hollenbach Toggle

About David Hollenbach

Rev. David Hollenbach, S.J., is the Pedro Arrupe Distinguished Research Professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service; a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs; and an affiliated professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University. His teaching and research deal with human rights, religious and ethical responses to humanitarian crises, and religion in political life from the standpoint of Catholic social thought, theology, and the social sciences. His books include Humanity in Crisis: Ethical and Religious Response to Refugees (2019), Driven from Home: Protecting the Rights of Forced Migrants (2010) The Global Face of Public Faith: Politics, Human Rights, and Christian Ethics (2003), and The Common Good and Christian Ethics (2002). He has taught often at Hekima University College in Nairobi, Kenya, and he collaborates with Jesuit Refugee Service. From 2020 to 2022 he is a distinguished research associate with the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Hollenbach is also a research associate with the Jesuit Center for Theological Reflection in Zambia. Hollenbach is a member of the Working Group on Displaced Persons and Hospitality to the Stranger, part of the Culture of Encounter Project.

David Hollenbach's Profile

John Langan Toggle

About John Langan

John P. Langan, S.J. was the Cardinal Bernardin Chair in Catholic Social Thought in the Department of Philosophy, Rose Kennedy Professor of Christian Ethics in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, and a faculty fellow at the Berkley Center at Georgetown University until his death in March 2020. He also taught at Yale Divinity School, Drew University, and Loyola University Chicago. Langan's research interests included ethics and international affairs, especially applications of just war theory; human rights in theory and practice; capital punishment; Catholic social teaching; the place of religion in liberal political thought; and the ethical theories of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. He edited Catholic Universities in Church and Society (1993) and A Moral Vision for America (1998). Langan held an A.B., M.A., and Ph.L. from Loyola University, as well as a B.D. from Woodstock College and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

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Robin West Toggle

About Robin West

Robin West is the Frederick J. Haas Professor of Law and Philosophy at Georgetown Law. Her scholarly interests include gender issues and feminist legal theory, constitutional law and theory, jurisprudence, legal philosophy, and law and literature. She previously taught at the University of Maryland Law School from 1986 to 1991 and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University from 1982 to 1985. West has also been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago and Stanford Law Schools. Her publications include Teaching Law: Justice, Politics, and the Demands of Professionalism (2014); Normative Jurisprudence: An Introduction (2011); Marriage, Sexuality, and Gender (2007); and Re-Imagining Justice: Progressive Interpretations of Formal Equality, Rights, and the Rule of Law (2003); as well as numerous law review and journal articles. West earned her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Maryland and J.S.M. from Stanford University.

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