From: Amara Graps (Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de)
Date: Thu Jun 28 2001 - 11:52:36 MDT
From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
>The original conception of human dignity among the Athenians and
>Romans was that it was something you earned through achievement and
>social respect.
Perhaps I can expand on this. I have a very good Greek friend, and I
asked her today about the historical Greek and Roman view about
dignity and her answer was essentially this:
It was a very important virtue that one had to achieve or maintain;
this virtue leading eventually to the goal of "human"
(anthropos). Noone would like to be close to an undignified person,
and many would do whatever was necessary to achieve dignity or else
die trying. To be undignified was to be a level no different than
beasts, and the Greeks/Romans of that time were focussed on constantly
trying to achieve a higher/better level of existence than
beasts. Their methods for seeking this higher level of existence were
to coordinate their lives with some 'absolutes' in the Universe such
as beauty and goodness and cosmos (? will ask her about this one).
Amara
(Boulder)
--
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Amara Graps | Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik
Interplanetary Dust Group | Saupfercheckweg 1
+49-6221-516-543 | 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de * http://galileo.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~graps
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"Never fight an inanimate object." - P. J. O'Rourke
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