On Dignity As A Value Of Rights

Liberty is the central values of traditional human rights. Liberty can be roughly summarized as four stages of development. Liberty came into being in the concept of "natural". Then, Christianity and the feudal system suppressed liberty but at the same time settled the main theme of liberty. Enlightenment philosophies shaped the liberty theory. And then law confirmed the liberty by legislation. Liberty is particular in British and American regimes. Political conflicts, economic life, Christianity, science and technology and other factors shape the performance of liberty, including the vigilance of government, worship of science and morally neutral.These features are loose in the modern time. State and individuals are no longer opposed; the scientific spirit has brought serious environmental and social problems, the private sphere is also regulated by morality and law. Dignity is rooted in the unique political history and the philosophical tradition of Germany. Preferring for universal values and absolute ethics, German, after the painful lessons of two world wars, chose dignity as the highest value of constitutional practice. Many international human rights conventions affirm human dignity as the foundation of all rights too.There are six classic theories on the concept of dignity. They are the purpose principle, object forbiddance, freedom to choose, free from insult, the Christian dignity and moral achievement. They are all imperfect. Concepts and standards of human dignity should be divided. The concept can be defined as "as a human being, everyone, including oneself, should be treated as a human being." Liberty as a particular right is widely used, but in our current constitutional practice, dignity is not proper to be declared as a particular right.Dignity replenishes and develops the traditional human rights. Dignity and liberty overlap highly in contents. They share the principles of democracy, equality, rule of law, and as the two core values guiding the entire human rights system. In the future, they will continue to show a mixed state in the confirmation of the universal ethical, the development of legal and morality.There are three levels in protection of dignity. They are international conventions, national constitutions and judicial standards. The standards can be roughly described as follows. Treating a person purely as a means is absolute prohibited. Second, treating a person purely as the purpose would not constitute a violation of dignity. Third, the law should not punish the behavior of self-derogation of dignity. At last, interference of others’private sector is prohibited.