The Challenge of Upholding Human Dignity
If inherent human dignity exists—and the judgment that it does is a foundation-stone of liberal democracy—then the contingent particularity of every person (embodied, fragile, here-now-gone-tomorrow) is also…
What is a Person? Understanding Dignity in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The phrase inherent human dignity refers to the value of being a person. So we must ask: What is a person? Sometimes, nowadays, we hear impassioned assertions…
The Historical Roots of Human Dignity in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The four members of the UN’s Commission on Human Rights responsible for crafting the final version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Charles Malik, Eleanor Roosevelt,…
Human Dignity and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The United Nations was founded in October 1945. Eight months later, it established a Commission on Human Rights, which was given the task of producing an international…
The Origins of Inherent Human Dignity
The idea of inherent human dignity has come to play a prominent role in contemporary culture. A commonplace, now, in political discourse and journalism, it has long…
On Human Nature
All ideas of a purely “immanent” human nature are based on a philosophical oversight: the failure to recognize that affirmation of an “immanent reality” has metaphysical meaning…
On Misunderstanding Human Nature
When we ask what human nature is, the words themselves can be a cause of misdirection, as the word nature suggests that a complete answer to the…
On Science
Sometimes, in a set of reflections, one needs to slow down and describe certain details with delicacy and fine attention; sometimes, though, summary strokes are needed. Here…
On the World of Space and Time
Discovery of the transcendence of ultimate reality—whether undesrtood as Tao, Brahman, Yahweh, Logos, or in another fashion—alters how the “world,” initially experienced as the cosmos, comes to…
On Belonging
I know that I am a derived reality, that I am not self-caused. I am not the “ground” of my own being. But what is, then? We…
On the Cosmos
Reality, if one includes past, present, and future, is a narrative completeness of meaning to which we spontaneously relate ourselves. This unity, this wholeness of all meaning,…
On Honesty
Almost two hundred years ago, Søren Kierkegaard wrote: “Where am I? Who am I? How did I come to be here? What is this thing called the…
Frederick “Fritz” Wagner: An Appreciation (Chip Hughes)
Fritz Wagner was a gracious friend and colleague who invited me from the beginning of VoegelinView to have my essays appear on the site. He was incisive,…