# Contested concept: human 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 contest is between 'human dignity' as a negative constraint (prohibition of certain acts) versus 'human dignity' as a requirement for respect/sanctity.
- **Canonical**: `/concept/human dignity` (data: `/concept/human dignity.json`)

## Senses in use
- **The inherent, inalienable right of a human being to exist, which the state must not violate.** — used in 3 claim(s)
- **The moral worth of a victim, which demands a response proportional to the gravity of the violation of that worth.** — used in 2 claim(s)

## Claims using this term
- [Human life is inherently precious.](/claim/claim_05e76d85a730.md) _(sense: The moral worth of a victim, which demands a response proportional to the gravity of the violation of that worth.)_
- [The act of murder demonstrates a fundamental lack of respect for human life.](/claim/claim_763727a771ff.md) _(sense: The moral worth of a victim, which demands a response proportional to the gravity of the violation of that worth.)_
- [The state should not possess the authority to kill human beings.](/claim/claim_8eebc501c4ad.md) _(sense: The inherent, inalienable right of a human being to exist, which the state must not violate.)_
- [The severity of criminal punishment is constrained by the principles of justice and the inherent human dignity of the individual being puni…](/claim/claim_c77125db7519.md) _(sense: The inherent, inalienable right of a human being to exist, which the state must not violate.)_
- [The state's deliberate, institutionalized practice of taking a human life [through capital punishment] constitutes the most extreme form of…](/claim/claim_d4a0ad486fba.md) _(sense: The inherent, inalienable right of a human being to exist, which the state must not violate.)_