Dignity is humanity's most prized possession. We experience the loss of dignity as a terrible humiliation: when we lose our dignity we feel deprived of something without which life no longer seems worth living. Dignity is humanity's most prized possession. We experience the loss of dignity as a terrible humiliation: when we lose our dignity we feel deprived of something without which life no longer seems worth living. Contents Introduction: Dignity as a way of living 1. Dignity as autonomy Being a subject - Being an end in itself - Slaughterhouses - What if it is voluntary? - Humiliation as demonstrated powerlessness - Escaping to an inner fortress - Having rights - Being patronized - Caring paternalism - Respect for alterity and conviction - Dependence: asking and begging - Begging for feelings - Inner autonomy: thought - Inner autonomy: wanting and deciding - Inner autonomy: emotions - Inner autonomy: self-image and censorship - Humiliation through serfdom - Autonomy through self-knowledge - Needing therapy - Dignity through work - Money 2. Dignity as encounter When subjects encounter each other - Commitment and distancing - Recognition - Equal rights - Putting someone on display - Sex objects - Human commodity - Neglect - Talk to me! - Laughing at someone - Denying explanation - Manipulation - Deception - Seduction - Overpowering - Working with a therapist - No pity, thank you! - Encounters between autonomous individuals - Leaving an open future to the other - Dignified partings 3. Dignity as respect for intimacy The dual need for intimacy - Feeling the other s gaze - What is a defect? - The logic of shame - Shame as humiliation - Dignity as conquered shame - The intimate space - The innermost zone - Dignified disclosures - Undignified disclosures - Shared intimacy - Betrayed intimacy as lost dignity - A challenge: Intimacy as a lack of courage 4. Dignity as truthfulness Lying to others - Lying to oneself - Honesty and its limits - Calling things by their proper name - Saving one s face - Bullshit 5. Dignity as self-respect Dignity through limits - Fluid self-images - Destroying self-respect - Sacrificing self-respect - Breaking self-respect - Responsibility for oneself 6. Dignity as moral integrity Moral autonomy - Moral dignity - Dignity in guilt and forgiveness - Punishment: Development instead of destruction - Absolute moral boundaries? 7. Dignity as a sense for what matters Meaning of life - One s own voice - Equanimity as a sense of proportion - The view from the end 8. Dignity as the acceptance of finitude When others lose themselves - Escape - Losing oneself: Resistance - Losing oneself: Accepting the journey into darkness - Dying - Letting someone die - Ending one s life - Responsibility towards the dead References & Further Reading