The Possibility of Respect: Human Dignity and the Ethics of Difference [Hardcover]

Human dignity and equal respect for persons are cornerstone ideals of Western society. And lately, they seem ever present. From the Black Lives Matter movement, to debates about abortion and immigration, to ongoing war in the middle east, appeals to dignity and respect are ubiquitous. But what if our basic assumptions about these ideas are mistaken? Remy Debes challenges readers to take this question seriously, and, in turn, to rethink the history, meaning, and future of the Western commitment to respect for all persons. It does so in an accessible style, free from academic jargon, and using examples drawn from real life, literature, music, and popular culture.The ideal that all humans deserve respect is almost universally accepted today. But how well do we live up to this ideal? Even in Western nations, where this moral ideal has become sacrosanct, we suffer daily reminders of our failures to live up to it. Sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia, antisemitism: as soon as we declare progress in overcoming such attitudes, they regenerate with renewed vigor. What explains this moral inertia?Drawing from a wide range of historically underrepresented voices, and real-life reflections, Remy Debes argues that we are missing something important when it comes to respect- and that our existing ideas are part of the problem. We are introduced to the concept of respect in childhood and quickly learn that respecting persons requires us to focus on the undifferentiated aspects of people. Each of us, we are told, is a rational agent, with autonomy and rights, and it is in this sense of personhood that we all deserve respect. The problem with this mindset, Debes argues, is that sometimes respecting persons - in the basic moral sense - requires deemphasizing what all persons have in common, in favor of what is different and unique about them. Sometimes, we are not calling out to be respected as a person in general, but as the specific person we are.The Plã0