MATERIALS TOWARD AN INDO-WESTERN UNDERSTANDING OF THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Abstract

Person signifies what is noblest in the whole of nature.' (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologial. I, 29, 2)
It is usually through a reference to Kant that the notion of dignity of the human person is defined. In Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, (p. 429 of the critical edition) he writes:
Rational nature exists as an end in itself....The practical imperativewill thus be as follows: Soact as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of any other, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means.