All of Joshuarainwater's Comments + Replies

I am not sure how a dignity emphasis could be separate from a well-being emphasis as it seems well-being is in part constituted by dignity. Unless one is a hedonist about well-being (which few philosophers today are), it is hard to imagine someone’s dignity (if you believe there is such a thing) will not be included in their overall well-being. By allowing someone to have basic life essentials you are thereby allowing them to live more a dignified life which we tacitly believe people deserve by virtue of being people.

Also, some philosophers have argued precisely that dignity is the reason we care about welfare at all. There is a property that an entity has which we believe makes it the subject of our moral concern.