Abstract

The term «dignity» is recurring in Western philosophical reflections within the legal/political and the moral fields. It refers both to a subjective feeling related to the value of one's own life and to an objective rule of respect for humanity. With the help of the analyses carried out by the Stoics, Kant and Arendt, the author tries to emphasize the shades and the drifting of the meaning of the term «dignity». Dignity is based upon a shared sense of the value of human life and it is guaranteed by the respect of autonomy as the right to critique. Yet the value of dignity, mentioned in national and international constitutions, requires further reflection in order to understand its critical purpose with respect to our contemporary world.