If you want to accurately predict what could soon go wrong in society, just read the professional journals.  Case in point: A bioethicist named Alasdair Cochrane, a deep thinker at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights in the UK, argued recently in Bioethics that we should discard our (already tenuous) embrace of intrinsic human dignity as the foundational basis for establishing medical ethics and enacting health care public policies.

Eschewing human exceptionalism and the sanctity of human life would have huge ramifications, and in urging what he calls an "undignified bioethics," Cochrane does not shy away from describing the stakes:

…the possession of dignity by humans signifies that they [all people] have an inherent moral worth.  In other words, because human beings possess dignity we cannot do what we like to them, but instead have direct moral obligations towards them. Indeed, this understanding of dignity is also usually considered to serve as the grounding for human rights. As Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.'

Cochrane hits the nail: Simply stated, if all humans do not have intrinsic equal moral value, the philosophical bases of the U.S. Declaration of Independence ("We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal…") and the UN Declaration of Human Rights, are rendered impotent, and universal human rights becomes impossible to sustain. Beyond that, if we deny intrinsic human dignity, we open the door to using human beings as objects and mere natural resources, as Cochrane details:

[I]f all individual human beings possess dignity, then they should not be viewed simply as resources that we can treat however we please. To take an example then, it may be that we could achieve rapid and significant progress in medical science if we were to conduct wide-ranging medical experiments on groups of human beings. However, because human beings have dignity, so it is argued, this means that they possess a particular quality that grounds certain moral obligations and rights.

Alas, that crucial protection matters not to Cochrane. In place of intrinsic human dignity, he urges that we judge each individual's moral worth based on their individual characteristics and capacities. He writes:

If all human beings possess dignity–this extraordinary moral worth–we need some explanation of what it is about the species Homo sapiens that makes them so deserving. When we start looking at particular characteristics that might ground dignity – language-use, moral action, sociality, sentience, self-consciousness, and so on – we soon see that none of these qualities are in fact possessed by each and every human. We are therefore left wondering why all human beings actually do possess dignity.

But this is all wrong.  Human capacities of the kind (and others) mentioned by Cochrane are unique to the human species, that is, they are uniquely part of our natures: That some have not developed, or have lost, them, is quite irrelevant to their full membership in the moral community, otherwise our value is merely transitory, meaning nobody would ultimately be safe. More specifically, judging moral worth individual by individual would resurrect the pernicious thinking behind eugenics and social Darwinism, full force. Indeed, accepting the concept of human undignity is the master key that opens the door to tyranny.

Interestingly Cochrane admits that Christian religion and its concept of the soul could justify human exceptionalism. But like most among the intelligentsia, he finds no place for faith in the discussion because Christian views are "controversial."  And it is true: When pagan Rome permitted unwanted babies to be exposed on hills, it was Christians who controversially gathered them up and lovingly raised them as their own. Today, Christians—just as controversially—continue to follow their Lord's admonition to love one's neighbor as one's self, for example, by standing in the breach to protect the unborn from abortion and being used in scientific experiments, and the aged, and cognitively disabled from euthanasia and denial of food and fluids. 

But unconditional love impedes the future that the new bioethics project envisions. Human bodies are the new frontier, our very parts a potential gold field in the development miracle medical products. If we are going to use some human beings as mere natural resources—or in another context, "save the planet" from global warming and overpopulation--there is no place for intrinsic human dignity.  Cochrane writes:

Obviously, given controversies over abortion, stem cell research, genetic interventions, animal experimentation, euthanasia and so on, bioethics does need to engage in debates over which entities possess moral worth and why. But these are best conducted by using the notion of 'moral status' and arguing over the characteristics that warrant possession of it. Simply stipulating that all and only human beings possess this inherent moral worth because they have dignity is arbitrary and unhelpful.

These are not matters about which we can no longer debate, an activity requiring a common frame of reference. More to the point, human dignity is not a matter about which compromise can be achieved: Either it exists or it doesn't.

All that can be done, then, is to hold up these diametrically conflicting world views to intense scrutiny—human exceptionalism versus human undignity—and inform the public of the benefits, burdens, and consequences that flow directly from each.

We can start with this truth: Unless we all matter no matter what, none of us will ultimately matter.

Top 10 Love Quotes

#10: We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

#9: One is very crazy when in love.
~ Sigmund Freud

#8: Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage.
~ Lao Tzu

#7: Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.
~ C. S. Lewis

#6: To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.
~ Mark Twain

#5: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
~ John 15:34-35

#4: Whoever loves becomes humble. Those who love have, so to speak, pawned a part of their narcissism.
~ Sigmund Freud

#3: Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.
~ Blaise Pascal

#2: Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking together in the same direction.
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

And the #1 quote is...

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love I gain nothing Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away...And now these things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
~ 1 Corinthians 13:1-8, 13

A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy: The Human Cost of the Animal Rights Movement

http://www.amazon.com/Rat-Pig-Dog-Boy-Movement/dp/1594033463

The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network is pleased to announce that Dr. Leon R. Kass has been selected to receive the 2010 Paul Ramsey award, given to those who have demonstrated exemplary achievement in the field of bioethics.

Dr. William Hurlbut, who serves on the Paul Ramsey nominating committee said, "Leon Kass is an extraordinarily constructive and courageous voice in bioethics -- a treasure to our civilization. He is the intellectual epicenter of American bioethics."

click here for information on the 2010 Paul Ramsey Award Dinner Friday, March 19, 2010
http://www.cbc-network.org/ramsey/winner.htm

Professor Leon Kass declares that it is beneath our human dignity to be indifferent to it.

As former Chairman of the now defunct President's Council on Bioethics, Leon Kass brought visionary leadership to the task. Part of his legacy is the body of essays commissioned by the Council. Kass is the author of a chapter titled: Defending Human Dignity ,that explores the source and the meaning of dignity. His insights continue to provide a beacon for all who hold the firm conviction of human exceptionalism and seek to uphold the moral demands it requires.

"In contrast to continental Europe and even Canada, human dignity has not been a powerful idea in American public discourse, devoted as we are instead to the language of rights and the pursuit of equality. Among us, the very idea of 'dignity' smacks too much of aristocracy for egalitarians and too much of religion for secularists and libertarians. Moreover, it seems to be too private and vague a matter to be the basis for legislation or public policy.

Yet, that said, we Americans actually care a great deal about human dignity, even if the term comes not easily to our lips. In times past, our successful battles against slavery, sweatshops, and segregation, although fought in the name of civil rights, were at bottom campaigns for human dignity-for treating human beings as they deserve to be treated, solely because of their humanity. Likewise, our taboos against incest, bestiality, and cannibalism, as well as our condemnations of prostitution, drug addiction, and self-mutilation- having little to do with defending liberty and equality-all seek to defend human dignity against (voluntary) acts of self -degradation. Today, human dignity is of paramount importance especially in matters bioethical. As we become more and more immersed in a world of biotechnology, we increasingly sense that we neglect human dignity at our peril, especially in light of gathering powers to intervene in human bodies and minds in ways that will affect our very humanity, likely threatening things that everyone, whatever their view of human dignity, holds dear. Truth to tell, it is beneath our human dignity to be indifferent to it."

http://www.bioethics.gov/reports/human_dignity/chapter12.html

Sandy's Corner: Engaging Your Child’s Cooperation- LEVEL 4 by Sandy Spears

This is another respectful tool to put in your parenting tool box. Different variations of the tools work with different children. Level 4 engages a child cognitively and helps him practice decision making skills to use when his parent is not around.

According to Myrna Shure’s Raising a Thinking Child, there are 5 types of questions to ask a child to engage their cooperation. This is for children 4½ and older. Levels 2 and 3 were either for younger children or for developmentally more challenging tasks.

Logical Questions
Is this a GOOD PLACE or NOT A GOOD PLACE for you to play?

Is that a GOOD PLACE or NOT A GOOD PLACE to place your cup?

Can I talk to you AND the person on the phone AT THE SAME TIME?

Consequence Questions
What might happen to your toys if you play in the middle of the hall way?

Feeling Questions
How MIGHT grandma feel if you step on her flowers?

Child’s Feeling Questions
How might your hand feel if you touch the hot stove?

Solution Questions
Can you think of a DIFFERENT place to play so that will NOT happen?

Send your letter to the editor to feedback@tothesource.org.