Intrinsic Dignity Research Articles

Rethinking the Complexities of the Body and Disability: Theological Account

The biological aspect of human embodiment frequently constitutes the primary basis for personal assessment, with an emphasis on rationality, free choice, material well-being, and happiness as fundamental attributes of worth. This perspective is also evident in cultural practices of body modification, which reflect societal standards and identity expression. The promotion of standards of bodily appearance that are often considered unrealistic within contemporary culture has the effect of creating a social environment in which those who do not conform to these standards are rejected and stigmatized. This can include individuals with disabilities, the elderly, or those with chronic illnesses and different bodily appearances. In the majority of cases, the so-called ‘body capital’ culture views the disabled body through the lens of a person’s physical appearance, which is, to a certain extent, associated with a biological dysfunction or reflects a kind of physical disability or vulnerable corporeality. This paper seeks to examine perspectives on the body through the lenses of major discourses surrounding disability, biblical anthropology, and disability theology. These perspectives advocate for the intrinsic dignity and value of the disabled body, challenging contemporary norms and projections upon the body, by underscoring the biographical, interdependent, and spiritual dimensions of human embodiment. This approach stands as an alternative to the reductionist view of the body, which prioritizes physical attributes over a comprehensive understanding of complete personhood.

Disability 4.0: bioethical considerations on the use of embodied artificial intelligence.

Robotics and artificial intelligence have marked the beginning of a new era in the care and integration of people with disabilities, helping to promote their independence, autonomy and social participation. In this area, bioethical reflection assumes a key role at anthropological, ethical, legal and socio-political levels. However, there is currently a substantial diversity of opinions and ethical arguments, as well as a lack of consensus on the use of assistive robots, while the focus remains predominantly on the usability of products. The article presents a bioethical analysis that highlights the risk arising from using embodied artificial intelligence according to a functionalist model. Failure to recognize disability as the result of a complex interplay between health, personal and situational factors could result in potential damage to the intrinsic dignity of the person and human relations with healthcare workers. Furthermore, the danger of discrimination in accessing these new technologies is highlighted, emphasizing the need for an ethical approach that considers the social and moral implications of implementing embodied AI in the field of rehabilitation.

Christian Values and Ethical Values in the Professionalized Social Work Practice

Within this theoretical analysis, we will approach social work as a professional practice starting from these six values stated by NASW - service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence - which the specialized literature also considers as a starting point in understanding and deepening social work. It is valuable to understand how the social work of the 21st century, under the pressure of continuous socio-economic changes, is still grounded in biblical teaching, which over time has supported humanity's understanding of human value, of the intrinsic dignity of every human being as he is created in the image and likeness of God. Each value that guides the NASW practice will be briefly analyzed, considering their relationship of interdependence. We observe, therefore, how each value that underpins social work, as developed by international practices, supports another grounding value. Both secular and Christian values have an interconnected relationship towards the fulfillment of the highest interest of the person in need.

Holding the Tensions: Female Bodily Integrity as an Intrinsic Good

To engage in more constructive abortion discourse, Catholics must get better at recognizing and sitting with moral tensions. We learn early on, for example, that abortion is intrinsically evil because it violates the right to life of a fetus. And yet—violations of bodily integrity are also considered intrinsic evils in our faith tradition. So why do Catholics often struggle to take seriously arguments that prioritize the bodily integrity of women who are pregnant? The Church should affirm the intrinsic dignity of female bodies—even during pregnancy, and even as we recognize that the bodies of women offer particularly compelling insights into our fundamental relationality. The black and white, dualistic, approach to abortion legislation that characterizes much Catholic discourse must be left behind, not to diminish our commitment to the dignity of the unborn, but to recognize the equal import of women. Only through affirming the bodily integrity of women can we begin to hold these tensions and participate in well-rounded, empathetic discourse.

A Spring in the Desert: Infertility and Merciful Accompaniment.

The mystery of love as it unfolds in marriage is an adventure filled with wonder and anticipation for what the future holds. Such is the excitement and optimism of the couple embarking on family life by actively trying to conceive a child. For the couple struggling with infertility, however, joyful anticipation can soon devolve into anguish as they realize that their hoped-for children might not come. Though the pain of infertility is a shared experience in marriage, it is to the woman that evaluation, testing, and treatment is often directed. She may experience infertility as an assault on her feminine identity, her marriage, and her faith, leaving her vulnerable to reliance on scientific and technological solutions as the only relief for her pain. This turn toward science, if not integrated into the larger framework of overall health and well-being, has the danger of making the natural, good desire for a child into a quest to achieve a single-minded goal. When the child becomes a "goal," husband, wife, and potential offspring become (unintentionally) objectified, and the woman's identity and the future of her marriage rest precariously on the shoulders of an ideal. It is within the context of the authors' lived experience of infertility, as well as hundreds of encounters with women in the Springs in the Desert community, that the authors contend that it is necessary to integrate the pain of infertility into a framework of merciful accompaniment. Pastors, physicians, and Fertility Care Providers are all uniquely well-placed to offer support and encouragement that affirm the intrinsic dignity of the wife and her husband, and the truth of their marriage as a witness to Christ in the world. When they meet the woman amidst her pain and longing, they can help her to understand infertility as a circumstance and not her identity. When the pain of infertility is seen and acknowledged, the medical and pastoral care she receives can positively impact her overall health and wellbeing, help her to turn to her husband, and ultimately encourage her to find God in the midst of the struggle.

Death with Dignity in Canada

Death with Dignity in Canada

Forensic Mental Health Care Staff Experiences of Providing Palliative Care

There is a steady increase in the number of people dying within the walls of forensic institutions across the world. This escalation is, to a large extent, because of an aging population. There is a need to explore how palliative care can be delivered in these settings where, historically, security has been the main focus. The aims of this study were to explore staff experiences of providing palliative care in a forensic mental health unit and to establish the subjective significance of those experiences. A qualitative, descriptive, case study approach was used. This study examined staff perspectives of provision of palliative care to a long-term service user who had been diagnosed with a life-limiting illness and who subsequently died. Interviews were analyzed using codebook thematic analysis. There were nine in-depth interviews with staff who were involved in the service user's care. Analysis resulted in five main themes: intrinsic dignity, "It was out of our depth," "It's just the way these places are," "Hospital was the practical place," and specialist services. If equitable access to palliative care is a human right, then it is essential that individuals in secure care with mental illness are able to access palliative care services that are responsive to their needs. Forensic mental health services need to be proactively prepared for the inevitability that people will die in their care.

‘My son has lost his dignity’: dignity of persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities

The objective of this study is to describe and evaluate understandings of dignity of persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. Intrinsic dignity cannot be lost and is inherent to being a human. Also, dignity is the extent to which these persons have enough positive experiences (individual dignity), have dignity in their relationships with familiar others (relational dignity), or with unknown others (societal dignity). While intrinsic dignity sometimes fails to include experiences of these persons and their family members, the other understandings are gradual, which means that these persons can lose their dignity. The understandings express a concern: the life of the person with severe disabilities is, respectively, worth respecting, living, sharing and caring about. We conclude that they can have dignity and that, in case of disagreement, it is important to clarify which dignity is meant and to make explicit the concerns at stake. Points of interest A mother stated, ‘My son has lost his dignity,’ while other parents assert that their child, like any other human being, cannot lose his dignity. The paper clarifies these differences between understandings of dignity. In this study, four understandings of dignity of persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities are evaluated. This means that their strengths and limitations are described. Parents and others, referring to dignity of persons with severe disabilities, want to express a concern, this paper argues. They want to make clear that the lives of these persons are worth respecting, living, sharing or caring about. Parents, health care professionals or others who disagree on dignity of a person with severe disabilities, this article concludes, should open themselves up for the other’s concerns. While their concerns may differ, they are both obviously concerned about this person, which is the starting point for providing good care and support.

An analysis of the "slippery slope" of assisted death

The study analyzes the phenomenon of the "slippery slope" of assisted death in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Colombia after the depenalization or legalization of this practice. Data analysis was performed reviewing the evidence published in scientific journals and in the governments' official reports. We verified a progressive broadening of the limits initially established by the law for the practice of assisted death in these three countries. This confirms the occurrence of the "slippery slope". Also, the exponential increase in the number of assisted deaths in these three countries after the legalization indirectly suggests the presence of the "slippery slope". An analysis of the anthropological and ethical implications of assisted death highlights that its moral assessment should not be exclusively based on consequentialist arguments. Also, a prudential interpretation of the slippery slope argument in the legal debate about assisted death should be incorporated. We conclude that the moral evaluation of assisted death cannot be exclusively grounded on its negative social consequences, but rather on the lack of respect for basic human values such as life and the intrinsic dignity of a person. The verification of the "slippery slope" in these three countries should be regarded as an alarm for an eventual legalization of euthanasia in Chile.

Beni culturali ecclesiali e dismissione del patrimonio monastico

The work is based on the analysis of the relevance of ecclesial cultural goods for the Church's order, for the symbolic-representative function of the spiritual values embodied in the ecclesial tradition, and highlights the need to provide special instruments of protection that promote their use by the community. By applying an extensive interpretation of the notion of sacredness, it is believed that it is possible to extend to the goods of monastic patrimony the qualification of ecclesial cultural goods, connoted by the characteristics of preciousness, culturality and sacredness. In order to guarantee respect for the symbolic-sacral value of these goods even when it is not possible to maintain their original destination, it is proposed to adapt, in the face of the lack of specific regulations, the current provisions for the reduction of places of worship to profane use, which establish precise conditions and precautions to ensure the decorum due to their intrinsic dignity.

Етичний кодекс лікаря: виховання гідності

Education is a part of the educational process that forms a person’s ability to feel dignity in himself and in others. Such a skill is of particular importance to the healthcare professional, whose vocation requires sensitivity to the patient. In a state of disease, a person acutely experiences a “loss of dignity”. So, one of the tasks of a physician is to see the dignity of his patient, to recognize its regions that are injured, and to pay proper respect to the inviolable core of the dignity. The author of the article provides guidelines for such a distinction. She researches the types of dignity, identifies the most important of them, and demonstrates situations in medical practice in which this distinction is relevant.
 The author understands dignity as a multifaceted phenomenon which corresponds to the inviolable value of the human person, virtue, the status of a moral subject. Such multifacetedness is reflected in attempts to typologize dignity. The article presents the concepts of distinguishing types of dignity proposed by L. R. Kass (basic dignity of human being and full dignity of being human), V. Kniazevich (ontological and existential aspects), A. Rodziński (dignity of personality, personal dignity and dignity of the person), D. P. Sulmasy (attributed, inflorescent and intrinsic dignity).
 The disease, especially the serious one, is a test of dignity. The author, however, argues, that the basic layer of dignity remains inviolable even in states that do not correspond to the status of a rational being. It is claimed that the disease injures less significant layers of dignity. The physician’s vocation, therefore, is to recognize these injured aspects and to demonstrate to the patient the fact that his basic, intrinsic, ontological dignity cannot be lost under any circumstances. Educating future physicians to be able to distinguish between all aspects of dignity should be an important part of the educational process in medical schools.

Inflorescent dignity: a reconstructive interpretation of Martha Nussbaum’s conception of dignity and its implications for education

ABSTRACT The concept of human dignity arguably has great relevance to education as it is mentioned in several human rights and education policy documents on the national and international level, providing their moral justification. However, when the concept is discussed within philosophical research, it is often seen as consisting of two different conceptions – intrinsic dignity and attributed dignity. The paper seeks to challenge this binary through a reconstructive interpretation of Martha Nussbaum’s conception of dignity, proposing inflorescent dignity, as a more fully fledged way of understanding dignity and how it relates to education. Through use of a fictional example, I argue that inflorescent dignity, grounded in intrinsic dignity, has relevance to education because it gives rise to moral, relational, and thus pedagogical, demands on education to be primarily focused on human flourishing as well as the acknowledgement of human actuality and potential, and for this to permeate all levels of education.

SUMMARY REPORT OF THE 12TH GENEVA CONFERENCE ON PERSON CENTERED MEDICINE

The Board of the ICPCM suggested Prof. Robert Cloninger from St. Louis, USA
 to become the Program Director for this event and he graciously accepted. The
 theme was chosen as “Promoting well-being and overcoming burn out.” This
 came as a natural follow-up of previous conferences where well-being has been a
 prominent issue. Furthermore, it has been evident in recent years that burnout
 among health professionals has become a real threat, not only to those that are
 being inflicted by the situation but also to those who rely on service provided by
 these professionals. This is not a new phenomenon but has been increasing in
 prevalence throughout the world in recent years and is therefore gaining increased
 attention. Health authorities have recognized these problems and are concerned
 but the solutions they generally propose to solve the problem seem not be very
 efficient. A great emphasis is on increasing resilience of health professionals and
 to adopt methods to help those already having signs of burnout or that have even
 entered into the full blown situation. A reflection of the cause of burnout and
 thereby the root to the solution is found in the preamble of the Declaration adopted
 by the Board of ICPCM following the event (see in more detail later): “Burnout is
 caused by a variety of dehumanizing processes in which there is a gap between
 who a person is and what they are required to do.” Furthermore, this is stated at
 the end of the preamble: “Effective improvement in the well-being cannot succeed
 without recognizing that the foundation for well-being in healthcare is respect for
 the intrinsic dignity of every person. Medical institutions initially tried to minimize
 or ignore the toxicity of organizational environments in which medical students
 and practitioners must operate. Hospitals and medical schools tried to improve
 the resilience of healthcare providers to stress, rather than admitting the need to
 change toxic organizational conditions. Unfortunately, there has been little
 benefit from such efforts because the fundamental problem was not addressed.
 Specifically, person-centered healthcare and people-centered healthcare systems
 are essential for promoting well-being and overcoming burnout.”

The Moral and Legal Status of Artificial Intelligence (Present Dilemmas and Future Challenges)

Abstract The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) systems raises dilemmas regarding their moral and legal status. Can artificial intelligence possess moral status (significance)? And under what conditions? Can one speak of the dignity of artificial intelligence as the basis of its moral status? According to some authors, if there are entities who have the capacities on which the dignity of human beings is based, they would also possess intrinsic dignity. If dignity is not an exclusive feature of human beings, such status also could be recognised by artificial intelligence entities. The first part of the paper deals with the problem of moral status of artificial intelligence and the conditions that must be fulfilled for such a status to be recognised. A precondition for the existence of moral status of artificial intelligence is its ability to make autonomous decisions. This part of the paper considers whether developing autonomous AI is justified, or, as some authors suggest, the creation of AI agents capable of autonomous action should be avoided. The recognition of the moral status of artificial intelligence would reflect on its legal status. The second part of the paper deals with the question of justifiability of ascribing legal personhood to the AI agents. Under what conditions would recognition of legal personhood by the artificial intelligence be justified and should its legal subjectivity be recognised in full scope or only partially (by ascribing to the AI agents a “halfway-status,” as some authors suggest)? The current state of the legal regulation of artificial intelligence will be observed as well.

La dignidad del enfermo en situación terminal

La dignidad del enfermo en situación terminal debe ser apreciada, por su condición de ser humano, ostentando la correspondiente dignidad por el hecho de “ser”, de su existencia. Es conocido que las situaciones terminales cambian las condiciones en las que se encuentra el paciente, pero no es lícito pretender que las circunstancias afecten su dignidad intrínseca, de la misma manera que no puede pretenderse que por encontrarse en una situación terminal no tenga derecho a la vida. Las circunstancias adversas pueden estar presentes en la vida del ser humano, pero siempre será un fin y nunca un medio, en cuyo marco la dignidad del paciente terminal debe ser respetada, debiendo asegurarse las condiciones necesarias de cómo serán brindadas las atenciones correspondientes hasta el final de su vida, más no direccionar acciones tendentes a cuándo poner término a su vida.

Human Dignity and Rights in the Context of Gender and the Sacramental Priesthood

Abstract This paper considers the question of women’s ordination to the sacramental priesthood in the context of human dignity and rights. Differentiating between two forms of ontological or intrinsic dignity – the universal dignity of the human being made in the imago Dei, and the particular dignity of those baptised into the imago Trinitatis – it argues that the refusal of ordination to women is a violation of baptismal dignity that constitutes a refusal of women’s rights. It analyses the arguments against women’s ordination and shows them to be based on a misreading of Thomas Aquinas, on the innovative concept of sexual complementarity which has replaced the earlier hierarchical model of sexual difference, and on appeals to mystery that might be better described as mystification. It concludes that the refusal to allow women to respond to the call to ordination is based on a modern form of essentialised sexual difference that is alien to the Catholic tradition and that violates Christological orthodoxy, insofar as it suggests that women are not able to image Christ.

The development of youth spirituality in the modern realities of Russian society

This paper discusses the problems that inhibit the development of spirituality in the youth, shows the role of educational institutions for young peoples moral stability development, reveals a personal paradigm that initiates self-actualization and improvement of students for socialization in modern Russian society. The paper analyzes the problems of spirituality and intelligence development in Russian universities. It is argued that the presence of spirituality creates a barrier to destructive social phenomena, while intelligence represents the internal and external culture, dignity and morality of the individual. The paper emphasizes that spirituality and intelligence should be protected by the individual from the destructive influence of the criminal environment and dubious offers. Students relying on the theory of reactance must learn to say no. It is noted that according to students the significant components of spirituality are the desire to develop their country, national virtues, the less significant ones are the willingness to sacrifice personal interests for the interests of the fatherland. The role of a comfortable psychological environment in the development of self-education, self-criticism, self-actualization of student youth is shown. It is postulated that an educated person respects other people, recognizes their intrinsic value, originality, meaning and dignity.

To the Sickest or to the Healthiest?

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised questions about the just allocation of limited medical resources. In this essay, I consider four pressing moral questions raised by the scarcity of mechanical ventilators, using the guiding principle that the primary criterion should be the conviction that each and every human being has equal moral status because each has an intrinsic dignity that makes him or her inestimable and inviolable. I propose that any legitimate criteria for ventilator allocation cannot discriminate among patient populations on the basis of any judgments that are not medically relevant. Instead, ventilators should be distributed solely on the basis of the likelihood that they will benefit patients and enable them to heal.

Addressing Vulnerability Due to Cognitive Impairment through Catholic Social Teaching

Meeting the needs of individuals who experience vulnerability due to cognitive impairment presents significant challenges to caregivers. Primary caregiver responsibility is often relegated to professionals in hospitals or long-term care facilities, while proxy decision-making responsibility lies with families. The complex relationship among patients, professional caregivers, and families may be further complicated by the relative cognitive capacity of different patients. While some experience diminished cognitive capacity to such an extent that they cannot make any informed voluntary decisions, others may be able to express global preferences and participate more actively in rehabilitative efforts. With reference to Catholic social teaching, I briefly establish the intrinsic dignity of human persons who experience cognitive impairment and then analyze how the web of relationships and responsibilities among patients, professional caregivers, families, and communities ought to be defined. Finally, I consider how these relationships may be optimized to enhance participation in mutually reinforced caregiving and decision making.

A Thomistic, Non-Ableist Conception of Impairment and Disability

In this essay, I present a conception of physical impairment as a privation of the actualization of one or more of a creature’s natural capacities. This broadly Thomistic, non-ableist conception of impairment affirms the intrinsic dignity of the person with the impairment. As a result, it stands between the conceptions of disability as a mere difference and disability as a bad difference. Finally, I show how arguments in favor of disabilities’ remaining in heaven generally presuppose a denial of this conception of impairment.