Can There Ever Be Dignity For All?

On Egalitarianism and Meritocracy

It’s a common, modern sentiment that everyone deserves basic dignity—but when pressed, it’s not obvious what dignity is.

The term is Roman in origin and has a class/status resonance. Dignity is owed to superiors, but not to people lower down the social pyramid. In post-Enlightened times, where we hold it to be self-evident that everyone is created equal,…