Dignity in modern Europe and North America is that quality of an individual human person that warrants treating him or her as an end, never merely as a means to some further end. Many things have a price; they are exchangeable for something of equal or greater value. A human person has no price and is not exchangeable; nothing has more value. Philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) gave voice to the Enlightenment view by saying that dignity is "an intrinsic, unconditioned, incomparable worth or worthiness" (Kant, p. 36). In a context of expanding technological ability to treat many topics, including persons, as means, the concept of dignity has been associated with the setting of boundaries on such treatments.

In common parlance society distinguishes between expressing dignity and having dignity. To express dignity is to behave in a dignified manner, to retain composure and a sense of self-worth in a difficult situation...