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Ambedkar on the Haughty Face of Dignity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2020

Luis Cabrera Open the ORCID record for Luis Cabrera [Opens in a new window]
Luis Cabrera*
Affiliation:
Griffith University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Luis Cabrera, Griffith Asia Institute/Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Queensland, 4111, Australia. E-mail: l.cabrera@griffith.edu.au
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Abstract

Can a concept such as dignity, with roots in hierarchy and exclusion, serve as the constitutional basis for advancing egalitarian justice within a democratic political community? This article highlights some concerns, via engagement with the work of Indian constitutional architect and anti-caste champion B.R. Ambedkar. Ambedkar strongly associates dignity with upper-caste status in Hinduism, and with dispositions to haughtiness or arrogance toward lower-status persons. His analysis has implications for recent treatments which frame dignity as a property which is possessed equally by all persons and is suitable for grounding egalitarian justice within political communities. In such accounts, dignity is shown to entail a defensive disposition and indignation against others as potential rights violators. This introduces tensions between the dignitarian foundation and in some cases very expansive social justice aims. Ambedkar offers an alternative conception of innate worth or worthiness, entailing dispositions to openness and inclusiveness, rendered as fraternity, Deweyan social endosmosis, and ultimately the Buddhist maitri. Such an approach avoids some tensions between dignity/indignation and egalitarian aims, while also offering a way to conceptualize human and non-human animal relations that avoids simply reinscribing status hierarchies.

Type
Article
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 83 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2020

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Footnotes

I would like to thank for their very helpful comments the two anonymous reviewers for this journal, as well as editor Nicholas Tampio. I also thank Haig Patapan, Komal Rajak, Manjunath Hosamani, Rahul Gajbhiye, Richard Shapcott, Manu Bhagavan, and Ferran Martinez i Coma, for their insights and feedback. Any mistakes remaining are my own.

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