Adam Etinson

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Work in Progress

WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT HUMAN DIGNITY? (DRAFT)

This article argues challenges common understandings of human dignity as (i) a brute indicator of moral status, and (ii) a vehicle for concerns about autonomy. It argues that human dignity is a normative concept closely tied to concerns about humiliation or degradation.

ON FALLING SHORT (DRAFT)

Many of us should do more - that is, more than we currently do - for others. We know we are morally imperfect. And yet many of us make no effort to change. Is it ever right to accept our own moral badness? Or is that an inherently irrational, and even dangerous idea?

WHEN LESS IS MORE? MINIMALISM AND DETERMINACY IN HUMAN RIGHTS (DRAFT)

This article evaluates whether so-called "minimalist" theories of human rights, which focus only on the most essential human goods (e.g., a minimally decenbt life) have the virtue of issuing more determinate verdicts about the validity of human rights claims - Co-authored with Robert Mark Simpson (Monash University)

MORAL MINIMA (UNDER PREPARATION)

This paper sheds light on the idea of a "moral minimum" - a set of moral requirements of primary importance, and associated with special taboo. The article distinguishes between various forms of moral minimalism, and examines their difficulties and attractions.

HUMAN RIGHTS, HUMAN DIGNITY, AND TUBERCULOSIS (DRAFT)

This paper explores the application of the human right to health and of the notion of human dignity to the circumstances of victims of tiburculosis, particularly in the context of the poor in India - Co-authored with Brian Citro, Clinical Lecturer in Human Rights Law, University of Chicago.

TRUTH OR REASONABLENESS? (DRAFT)

This paper challenges John Rawls’ rationale for grounding moral reasoning about justice in standards of ‘reasonableness’ as opposed to garden-variety standards of truth or justification.