Human Dignity and Rights: Echoes From Kant's Categorical Imperative

Resumen

The constant abuse and violation of the fundamental human rights of individuals and groups in various societies as well as baseless undermining of human dignity necessitate the need for this paper. In Africa, especially in Nigeria, the dignity of man has been thrown to the dogs such that even man's life longer has value. Terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery etc are predominant in most African countries especially in Nigeria which clearly undermine the dignity of man and violate fundamental human rights of the victims. The question which this paper seeks to provide answer to is: how can we restore the dignity of man and protect his fundamental human rights? To answer the question, the paper takes a cue from Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher and one of the greatest moral philosophers of our time, who seems to have shone lights on the idea of human dignity and human rights. His ethical writings, no doubt, appear to contain and at the same time offer our contemporary society the principles or ethical guidelines with which we could tackle the numerous social and moral evils prevalent in our society today, as well as appreciate and respect the rights and dignity, both of ourselves and those of our fellow human beings. This paper is therefore, a study of the place of human rights and human dignity in Kant's ethics. It aims to show the importance of human rights and human dignity as stressed and portrayed in Kant's categorical imperative. The paper then, recommends the principles of Kant's categorical imperative as the practical means of preserving and protecting human rights and dignity. The paper adopts the expository and analytic methods in espousing our subject matter. The expository method was used in exposing the nature of human dignity and rights as well as the concepts of human dignity and rights in Kant's Categorical Imperative, while the analytic method was used in analyzing and explicating the logic behind human dignity and rights in Kant's Categorical Imperative.