# Contested concept: dignity

_**What you are reading**: one contested-concept page in Deliberus's deliberation graph. Deliberus maps human reasoning — including claims that are contested, mistaken, or extreme — so that disagreement can be examined precisely. A claim's presence here is not an endorsement: the graph records that someone argued it, how it connects to other reasoning, and how far scrutiny has gotten. The metadata on this page describes the state of that scrutiny, not the truth of the claim._

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- **Contestedness**: criterion
- **Diagnosis**: The disagreement centers on whether human dignity is preserved by prolonging life at all costs or by allowing individuals the autonomy to end their lives when suffering becomes unbearable.
- **Canonical**: `/concept/dignity` (data: `/concept/dignity.json`)

## Senses in use
- **The quality of having agency, autonomy, and freedom from degrading pain or loss of bodily control.** — used in 3 claim(s)

## Claims using this term
- [The ability for an individual to choose a dignified and comfortable end to their life is a fundamental matter of human dignity.](/claim/claim_25e657a9a298.md) _(sense: The quality of having agency, autonomy, and freedom from degrading pain or loss of bodily control.)_
- [The belief that assisted dying is a fundamental matter of individual choice and dignity is the primary motivation for the campaign to refor…](/claim/claim_9de7023215ab.md) _(sense: The quality of having agency, autonomy, and freedom from degrading pain or loss of bodily control.)_
- [When an individual experiences intractable pain and suffering that cannot be eased, that individual should have the right to choose a digni…](/claim/claim_9fb83c93e502.md) _(sense: The quality of having agency, autonomy, and freedom from degrading pain or loss of bodily control.)_