Advancing a deeper understanding of human dignity
An intellectual hub to explore what it means to flourish as a human being and how a shared understanding of dignity can guide technology governance, U.S.-China relations, and other complex challenges of the 21st century.
The challenge of our time
In 1961, the Rockefeller Special Studies Report, grappling with the great strategic questions of its era, stated unequivocally: "No challenge is more important than to give concrete meaning to the idea of human dignity."
More than sixty years later, that challenge remains unmet. And the emergence of artificial intelligence, genomic engineering, social media, and other powerful technologies has made it even more urgent.
Sustainable progress on the great challenges of our time — technology governance, U.S.-China relations, climate change, inequality — is virtually impossible without some shared ethical foundation. That foundation must be grounded in a common understanding of what we owe each other as human beings. Dignity is the name for that understanding. This site is dedicated to making it concrete.
Dignity: a common aspect of our humanity that is due reciprocal moral respect — the socially emergent part of personhood and fundamental essence of being human in society.
THE PAPER
Dignity, Technology, and Global Order
A study of how a better understanding of human dignity can inform technology governance and the future global order — published by the Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins SAIS and funded by the Ford Foundation.
LIBRARY
Sources on dignity
An annotated collection of books, academic papers, and other media exploring human dignity — its philosophical roots, its political life, and its relevance to the challenges of our time.
OFFICIAL TEXTS
Dignity in law and charter
How constitutions, international charters, and founding texts invoke, define, and contest human dignity — from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to national constitutions across the globe.
Latest Essays
What to make of Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas
Fiat Potentia: What can a classic 1950s sci fi novel teach us about our uncertain AI future?
Chinese conceptions of dignity
Coming soon…
Get in Touch
Wrestling with these issues can be a lonely business. Get in touch.
For questions about the research, speaking enquiries, collaboration proposals, or to suggest a source for the Library — use the form. All messages are read personally.
About Me
Nathaniel Ahrens is a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Foreign Policy Institute, researching the geopolitics and ethics of emerging technologies through the lens of human dignity. And vice versa.
