Abstract

The desire for dignity informs an individual’s daily activities. Human beings, driven by a universal desire to be recognised and to be seen as dignified people within a society, conduct their actions according to values that are considered dignified. Society informs our disposition toward the dignity of one another. This evokes the question of the true nature of dignity: what is dignity? This chapter seeks to explore and engage with the question of the nature of dignity in African society, drawing on African philosophers’ conceptions of human dignity in personhood within moderate and strict communitarian positions. Is dignity an intrinsic or an instrumental value? Can dignity be both an instrumental and an intrinsic value? These distinctions are very important in moral theory. Is dignity value in itself (an end in itself) or instrumental value (means to an end) or both? Responses to these questions shed light on African conceptions of dignity.