VERITAS UNIVERSITY, ABUJA
DIRECTORATE OF GENERAL STUDIES
1ST SEMESTER, 2023/2024 ACADEMIC SESSION
Course Code: GST 171
Course Title: ETHICS
TOPIC:
RESPECT FOR HUMAN LIFE AND DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
INTRODUCTION
Having treated the meaning, nature and scope of Ethics; Ethics as character formation and the
identification of the core values of Ethics as a discipline, we can now focus on the human person
and his inalienable dignity (created in the “image and likeness of God”) as the subject of Ethics.
Of all creatures, only man is created in the image and likeness of God. This places man in a
unique place in the scheme of creation. It also bequeaths to man not only a unique place but a
special identity and status.
BASES OF HUMAN DIGNITY
A. DIVINE SOURCE: Christianity believes and teaches that God as the Supreme Being, is the source
and creator of all forms of life. Therefore, no creature, no matter how powerful or intelligent can
be the source of its own life. But of all creatures, human life is reckoned to be of unique status
and not to be equated with other forms of life; vegetative or animal. God, therefore, is the
ultimate owner who can exercise absolute control over human life. It is this recognition that
we refer to as the dignity of the human person and the respect that should be accorded it.
B. INCARNATION: Christianity teaches and profess faith in the incarnation: the fact that God’s
eternal Word took flesh and became man (cf. Jesus Christ – Emmanuel: God with us), as
eloquently presented in the Gospel of Saint John.
The fact that God decided to assume human nature and to share in human life with all its
imperfections in order to perfect it and to save humanity from eternal damnation, means that
human life and its status has been elevated. It has been raised to a lofty height. This is another
basis for the respect for the dignity of human life.
C. THE HUMAN PERSON AS IMAGE OF GOD: The third and probably the most notable reason proffered for
the arguments for the need to respect human life and accord dignity to the human person is the
fact that the Bible teaches that God created man in His image and likeness (cf. imago Dei,
Gen 1:27).
It is good to understand the meaning of this unique phrase applied to man alone among all
creatures.
The image and likeness of God in man has nothing to do with physical qualities (being tall,
short, fair or dark in complexion, etc). It rather refers to those qualities that are found in man bur
absent in other creatures like animals and trees or other inanimate objects like mountains, the
sea, valleys, or even, the celestial bodies like the moon and the stars.
These qualities are: WILL and INTELLECT/REASON. These qualities are also called
“faculties”. It follows therefore, that of all creatures, only man can exercise these two
fundamental qualities. Man’s life is characterized by the ability to Will and make decisions. He
can change his/her mind because man has the Will to makes choices: to love or hate; to eat or
fast; to walk or run; to attend lectures or sleep in the hostel; to be disciplined or to steal a
neighbour’s property, like phone. All these activities show us how we may exercise our freewill
as human beings made in the image and likeness of God.
Intellect or Reason is the second quality that demonstrates to us how man is made in the image
and likeness of God. Man is endowed with Intellect. He has consciousness of his being and does
not act on INSTINCT alone like animals do. He can reason! He understands his own existence
in relation to his environment, and in fact, the whole universe. He understands the basic truths
concerning his life on planet earth. Man knows he was born and would die. Man, alone seems to
be the only creature that grasps this fundamental truth of the purpose of life.
Based on this quality of Intellect or Reason, man is able to dominate and develop his
environment and life in a manner no other creature can. The innumerable human inventions
attest to the Intellect that man is endowed with.
CONCLUSION
A combination of these two qualities of WILL and INTELLECT in man define and help man to
live as a community. Man is able to live in freedom by exercising and deploying reason to a level
where life becomes not just bearable but peaceful and harmonious. If a human society is to be
distinguished from an animal kingdom in the jungle, the parameters to measure that would be the
dynamics of responsible freedom and the reasonableness of man’s actions.
