Caner K. Dagli

College of the Holy Cross

Caner K. Dagli is an associate professor of religious studies at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.

Dignity Is for the Heart, Not the Ego

Contrary to its usage in today’s public discourse, dignity is not something all humans universally have, but something that everyone must do.

“Dignity is one dimension of the proper relationship between that heart and the ego. Dignity is my self-mastery in your presence, my self-mastery as experienced by you, and your self-mastery as experienced by me. To have dignity, to demand dignity, and to treat others with dignity are three aspects of the same virtue of restraining the selfish passions. We owe that aspect of spiritual discipline simultaneously to ourselves and to others, and others owe it to us. To act with dignity is to demonstrate not merely ethical behavior, but ethical behavior insofar as such actions are intelligible as a heart mastering the passions and desires that constitute an ego. This means that ultimately there can be no dignity without spirituality and no spirituality without dignity.”

Read the Article Instead: “Dignity Is for the Heart, Not the Ego”