Most humans are intuitively attracted to the idea of dignity. We want to claim it and to have it.

We also tend to misinterpret it.

We have confused it with earned respect.1 We have confused it with charity. We have confused it with winning and wealth. We have reduced it to a sentiment, a vibe, a line on a corporate values poster, right between "innovation" and "synergy."

But unless dignity is reflected in humans being treated as beings of unconditional worth, that values poster has nothing to do with real dignity. It is just decoration.

The first and most consequential error is that we treat dignity as though it were a reward. A performance bonus, earned, chased after, and doled out to those who have demonstrated sufficient productivity. Grabbed along with power.

The logic runs like this: You have proven your value; therefore, you deserve to be treated as fully human.

Wait, what? Why should humans earn being treated like humans?

Immanuel Kant saw this back in 1785. In the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals2, he drew a distinction that still matters........

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