I think that human dignity is united to Christian beliefs: "God created the man to His image and semejance" says the Genesis (the first book of the Bible). This ontologic dignity can be perfectioned by moral dignity for the good use of freedom of man. Animals have some dignity too, the love of them for human beings is a proof of it. The man dominates the animal kingdom for his dignity, wisdom and intelligence.

Yes Francesco. I agree with Mariano. The human is a rational animal and a person. He / She has freedom, intelligence and capacity for love. Other things may have some dignity or value because of their association with us or because what they represent, for example, we gave to honor the flag, the constitution and the laws of our country. Irrational animals have some dignity because they are sensitive. The man who mistreats an animal or another helpless human being for pleasure is an unworthy man, that is, he loses part of his dignity.

Dear Sofia,

Jesus as divine person gave his human life for human beings even they being sinners. Jesus did not give his life for animals, his redemption is for the human beings. This does not signify that animals cannot be loved as other saints had done (St. Francis of Asis, etc.).

Frank Bruni's essay "According Animals Dignity" in the Opinion column of The New York Times (Jan. 13, 2014) describes the increasing trend of thinking about the dignity of nonhuman animals. The last passage of the essay is as follows:

"Those creatures big and small that have fed, frightened, entertained, comforted and awed us are no longer just them," Lauerman writes in a letter to The Dodo’s readers (https://www.thedodo.com/the-dodo-for-the-love-of-anima-384716923.html) . "Increasingly, they are us."

Everyone recognizes that we all have a desire to be respected as something of value. Respect is dignity's common denominator.

Every species expect respect as proven by the reaction against disrespect.

On which proven ground to exclude non-human animals?

Dignity is a big issue in my culture. Other than humans may I say mercy with them!

Dignity has to be given to any thing that lives around us and beyond, including nature. It is when we dignify things around us and within us that we have a sense of harmony within the domicile.

Dignity is not reserved just for humans.

All living beings should have dignity.

I do not limit dignity for human beings. In fact Jesus was represented as lamb and the Holy Spirit as pigeon. But Jesus, being God, was not an animal but a man and gives his life for men and women, what he does not do for any animal. I love and respect animals but the most dignity is with the men and women.

Brava, Sofia Cividini

The idea of dignity (worthiness) is an arrogant one. Who is it who decides what animals are worthy and what animals are just to be slaughtered and eaten, or poisoned, or harpooned, or gassed in gas chambers? I find the whole concept repugnant.

Science is moving rapidly from a cause-and-effect paradigm to one based on interdependent co-arising. Everything on this planet – animals, plants, air, water, soil, minerals – everything is interdependent. We had better wake up to the fact that we have caused a mass extinction and climate change that has not been seen since the end of the Permian period. 95% of the earths animals, by weight, are now humans or the their prey that they raise in squalid conditions and then slaughter.

And we have the astonishing narcissism to proclaim ourselves as more worthy than the other animals! I'm with Madam de Staël here :

The more I see of men the more I like dogs

Madame de Stäel, 1766-1817

Dignity seems a poorly conceptualized and vague concept. Further complicating matters, in a pluralistic society various groups and communities bring a diversity of views, religious values, and cultural understandings that inform and shape their use of the concept of human dignity. Are humans in a position to evaluate no-human animals dignity?

dignity is defined as: " the state or quality of being worthy of honour or respect"

I believe that most of nature is worthy of honour and respect and definitely

God is worthy of honour and respect.

The trouble in the world, is that many people are not worthy of honour or respect and many rogue animals are not worthy either. Maybe the malaria parasite and other parasites are not dignified. Not quite sure what to make of this planet sometimes!

We can't recognize ourself dignity but of others? The contrary is true in no-human animals?

ha ha Sofia, they are mostly parasites though! I guess there are always exceptions!

Dignity is not pride. Can we recognise both in our self by our self?

Respected sir, Francesco Nardelli, Dignity must be prerogative of every living being and not only limited to human beings; but, where human beings are merely treated badly, with out considering their rights, what can be said. Long live conservationist!

All life on earth deserves dignity including all its biological diversities. We must treat everything on the earth with greater care. This was the hidden concept behind the animalia (living things having spirit) in the African cosmology.

Well Prerogative = Privileged, Right, Immunity Respect is for All living beings including Animals Trees Others. This quality is performed by only Decent and Sober Human Beings you cannot expect from Cheap People. Regards

The majority of humans doesn't respect non-humans lives. Can they only see dignity amongst us?

Dignity is not only restricted to humans. Dignity should be accorded to both living and non living things, but unfortunately as simple as this may seem, many don't have a full grasp of this concept.

The capacity for causal reasoning, combined with a high degree of self-consciousness, suggests the intriguing possibility that humans may not be the only animals capable of moral cognition. It has been argued that chimpanzees, other great apes, cetaceans and elephants should be accorded the legal status of ‘persons’ on the grounds that they are self-aware and autonomous beings. In addition, many animals have been found to exhibit co-operation, empathy and a sense of fairness, which arguably constitute the most basic elements of morality. Even if these combined capacities are necessary but not sufficient to as yet qualify any animals as moral agents with powers and responsibilities equivalent to those of adult humans, they may well be sufficient to qualify them as moral ‘patients’ i.e., worthy of moral consideration ?

Respected sir, Francesco Nardelli, very true!

Long live conservationist!

The traditional doctrine of human dignity implies that the interests of humans have priority over those of all other creatures, thus the very idea of human dignity is an impediment to the proper moral recognition of animals?

Dignity is the right and privilege of all and is never exclusive to a particular individual or a class of people.

Dignity is not for judiciary or Government It is a prerogative for all biotic factors of biosphere.

Dignity can be identified and described without anthropomorphise it ?

Perhaps there is only one element shared by all accounts of dignity, which is the idea that dignity entails intrinsic value. But intrinsic value is an ambiguous concept in its turn because it has been predicated on diverse things across different dimensions?

Intrinsic values can be subjective, as for someone, fellow human beings might not deserve the dignified status due to many intrinsic reasons. For some, All other living beings might be more valuable for dignified status as compare to fellow human beings.

I agree with Dr K N Sheth

من حقوق ا لانسان التي تطلب والتي يسعى الى تحقيقها كلها تصب في حفظ كرامته واي سلب حق من حقوقه فهو هدر الى كرامته

Following Nadia Asad point: because dignity is subjective, how to evaluate it in animals?

TicToc by Bloomberg‏Verified account https://twitter.com/i/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Ftictoc%2Fstatus%2F1076673885322596352%3Fcn%3DZmxleGlibGVfcmVjcw%253D%253D%26refsrc%3Demail&t=1+1545534383533&cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjcw%3D%3D&sig=25c0f32acbb78025e0084d22f7624396a205b716&iid=8e77a17c2c904d9aa54e7ca254da7ba9&uid=895547868378931201&nid=244+293670912

See dignity in humans in Hong Kong. ..2.1 million people eating, living, defecating, copulating, raising children, dying in cages.