Dignity in Digital Ethics

The concept of dignity has a long history, that resonates in the present meaning of the concept. After a discussion of premodern times in which dignity was closely related to 'rank' and a discussion of Immanuel Kant's notion of dignity, we discuss the relevance of the concept in the age of digitalization. It turns out that dignity refers to aspects of morality that are hardly captured by other concepts. First of all, dignity is a demand to be treated carefully, taking into account the unique characteristics of a person's situation and his role. We subsequently discuss the difference between dignity and autonomy. Instead of an inviolable 'inner kernel', dignity expresses the idea that people do not abase themselves or others. We use this meaning of dignity to criticize manipulation of human consciousness by algorithms. We end with a short discussion about the way the dignity of work is under pressure in the platform economy.