Ever more people around the world yearn for dignity, and this even though dignity is difficult to conceptualise. This article begins with critical questions, such as, ‘What if dignity is a useless concept?’, ‘What if different concepts of dignity are incompatible with each other?’ The article then presents the author’s defence of the notion of dignity and summarises how she embeds it in a larger historical context.

The significance of the concept of dignity is being confirmed, not least, by His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, a leader in the cause of peace and inter-faith understanding. He has for several decades been ahead of his time in advocating for dignity. The article ends with a call for renewed attention to global systemic change so humanity may face a future in dignity.

The full text of this introduction is available as the first article of this volume.