Human Dignity and Bioethics

Dignity and Bioethics | 483
any other entities that have intrinsic dignity, and to the rest of what
exists. The following list describes some of these duties. Space limitations
preclude a full discussion of how these principles follow from
this theory of dignity, but many will appear quite plausible on their
face. This list is also not meant to exhaust the fundamental principles
of ethics. It is limited to those fundamental principles that are most
directly connected to the theme of dignity. But these duties should
be taken as sufficiently fundamental and general to be considered
true principles. All members of a natural kind that has intrinsic dignity
and are, as individual members of that natural kind, capable of
exercising the moral agency that in part constitutes their intrinsic
dignity, have the following duties:
P-I. A duty of perfect obligation to respect all members of natural
kinds that have intrinsic dignity.
P-II. A duty of perfect obligation to respect the capacities that
confer intrinsic dignity upon a natural kind, in themselves
and in others.
P-III. A duty to comport themselves in a manner that is consistent
with their own intrinsic dignity.
P-IV. A duty to build up, to the extent possible, the inflorescent
dignity of members of natural kinds that have intrinsic
dignity.
P-V. A duty to be respectful of the intrinsic value of all other
natural kinds.
P-VI. A duty of perfect obligation, in carrying out PP-I-V, never
to act in such a way as directly to undermine the intrinsic
dignity that gives the other duties their binding force.
While the language of these principles might seem unfamiliar to
bioethicists, the concepts are quite familiar. The second formulation
of Kant’s categorical imperative might be considered a corollary of
P-I. Together, P-I, P-II, P-III, and P-VI elaborate the meaning of
Respect for Persons; P-III sounds as if it comes directly from a Stoic
discourse on dignity; P-IV and P-VI are related to Beneficence and
Non-Maleficence; P-V is the clarion call of environmental ethics.
Justice arises from the need to balance the requirements of PP-I-V.
It is also important to note that the duty to build up the