The Importance of Being Human

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The Importance of Being Human

ABSTRACT: In this paper I will defend a kind of human-centered perspective regarding ethical questions wherein the interests of humans and nonhumans alike are involved. Compared to other species, however, the idea that there is something special about being human is commonly vague. For example, it is unclear whether the thought is (1) being a human being is important in itself, or (2) it is important to be like a human being — that is, to have the capacities which a normal adult human being enjoys. I build my defense of human dignity on the claim that we regard a biological human being as a being of intrinsic importance, which is what (1) is about. However, I also consider the ethical implications of (2), which concerns the moral significance of personhood. I argue that the idea of a special intrinsic value of being a human is applicable only to cases where we deal with nonpersons. I claim that in spite of this qualification, we might defend a substantial principle of human dignity founded upon this generalization.

Traditionally in the West we regard the property of being a human as something morally significant. In what does this significance consist? Is membership in our species important in itself, or does the importance lie in having the properties that a normal grown-up human being has? I believe that this distinction is commonly neglected in discussions about a special human value or a human dignity. It is a distinction between the direct and indirect importance of a property. What I want to claim is that there is a way of arguing for the existence of a value which proceeds from the assumption that most of us believe that being human is something important per se. The advantage of founding the idea of a human dignity on this kind of reasoning is of course that it allows all human beings to have a share in this value.

In the traditional view, however, it is not only important to regard all human beings as having a share in a special human value, it is normally important as well to regard all human beings as having this share to the same extent. Not only is it the case that human beings are more valuable than non-humans, all human beings are equally valuable. This second aspect of the importance of being human will be given no treatment here.

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