MORAL OBLIGATION AND DIGNITY OF THE SELF VISÀ-VIS ‘PERSONHOOD’ OF THE DEAD
MORAL OBLIGATION AND DIGNITY OF THE SELF VISÀ-VIS ‘PERSONHOOD’ OF THE DEAD

Summary/Abstract: This work addresses the issues, whether dead persons have rights and moral obligations or could be accorded such, and whether the ‘remains’ deserve such dignity. The legitimacy of posthumous dignity and protection of personality will be interrogated from the vantage point of relevant questions, namely, Does a dead person have any rights over his/her body or remains? Who can claim to have any right over a corpse or the incorporeal entity (the post-mortem person)? If the living claims any right over the corpse, does it then make the dead person a mere object? Should an incorporeal entity (corpse) be subjected to violation in terms of defamation?, Should we (the living) be obliged to fulfill the ‘will’ or promise made to a person (when he/she was alive)? And lastly, why should one not speak ill about the dead? We approached these issues from the perspective of our sense of morality in relation to the concept of “self”, “person”, “death” and “dead body”. The methods are expository and critical analysis. We conclude that our conception of memory of the self and its continuity as a conscious moral being is the impetus regarding our dignifying the dead and our belief in post-mortem personhood.

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