This book is a rethinking of human dignity in relation to our principles of social governance. The result is a revisionist account of human dignity and law, one focused less on the use of human dignity in our regulations and more on its constitutive implications for the governance of the public realm.
This book develops an original revisionist understanding of human dignity. Under this understanding, dignity does not exist prior to or independently of law. Human dignity should be analyzed as a value which lies at the intersection of morality, law and politics. This valuable approach challenges established dogmas and establishes the significance of law as a value-sustaining institution.
Alon Harel, Mizock Professor of Law, The Hebrew University Law Faculty and the Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality
In place of conceptions of human dignity that suffer from normative indeterminacy, regulative redundancy, or constitutive incoherence, Stephen Riley elaborates an account that focuses on the basic status of humans and their entitlements in a network of obligations that ranges across law, politics, morals, and justice. This is a truly impressive work, beautifully written and compellingly argued.
Roger Brownsword, King’s College London and Bournemouth University
This book develops an original revisionist understanding of human dignity. Under this understanding, dignity does not exist prior to or independently of law. Human dignity should be analyzed as a value which lies at the intersection of morality, law and politics. This valuable approach challenges established dogmas and establishes the significance of law as a value-sustaining institution.
Alon Harel, Mizock Professor of Law, The Hebrew University Law Faculty and the Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality
In place of conceptions of human dignity that suffer from normative indeterminacy, regulative redundancy, or constitutive incoherence, Stephen Riley elaborates an account that focuses on the basic status of humans and their entitlements in a network of obligations that ranges across law, politics, morals, and justice. This is a truly impressive work, beautifully written and compellingly argued.
Roger Brownsword (King’s College London and Bournemouth University)
Dr Stephen Riley is a lecturer in the Law School of the University of Leicester, UK. He has previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher in philosophy at Utrecht University.