Dignity in Western vs. Chinese Cultures: Theoretical Overview and Practical Illustrations

Dignity is a key concept in ethics. In particular, it has been used as a principle to ground universalist business ethics. Section 10.1.1 of this paper argues that there are substantial differences between the ways in which the West and China construe human dignity. Section 10.1.2 presents two cases and shows how these differences might “cash out” in actual business practice. Instead of relying upon a non-existent universal concept of human dignity, we should seek to identify the many goods (teamwork, appropriate initiative, autonomy, and respect for elders) that differing parties see at play in the case at hand and then to try to come up with ways to realize as many of these goods as possible.