Human Freedom and the Common Good Glen T. Martin 1. Human Dignity The first and fundamental principle whenever one thinks about society, morality, law, or human life in general is the principle of human dignity. This is the fundamental principle of all morality and law. It means that there is something inviolable about being human, something that sets us apart from all other things and creatures that we are aware of, something that was traditionally recognized as a spark of divinity or being “made in the image of God.” The fact that all normal people everywhere are horrified by homicide, for example, shows that we all immediately know this fundamental principle (Martin 2018, Chap. 2). St. Paul, in Romans 2:14, declares that the moral law is “written on every human heart” in such a way that the revealed biblical law is not necessary for people to act morally. This is because people everywhere, even those who never heard of Christianity, “do by nature what the law requires.” The Bible declares that there is a universal moral principle known to all persons, written on their hearts by God. Immanuel Kant in the 18 th century is widely credited for putting his finger on the “fundamental principle of all morality” that he called the Categorical Imperative (1964). He states that this imperative is known immediately to all normal persons. It commands: “Always treat every person as an end in themselves, never merely as a means.” Kant explicitly identifies this principle with our infinite dignity which is “beyond all price,” beyond all utilitarian calculations of cost versus benefit. We should not use people. If we harm them or kill them for our own advantage, we are using them as a means and violating their intrinsic human dignity. If we claim “self-defense” as an excuse for doing them violence, we must justify this claim in front of an impartial governmental forum (cf. Martin 2009, Chap. 11). Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov in the 19 th century agreed with Kant and St. Paul’s declaration in the Christian New Testament. He affirms that: “The moral principle, recognized in its essence by all normal people, though on different grounds and with different degrees of clearness, asserts that human dignity must be respected in every person, and that thereby no one may be made merely a means or an instrument for the advantage of others” (1950, 211). World-renowned philosopher Jürgen Habermas in the 20 th century, famous as a founder of “Discourse Ethics,” similarly links our ability to engage in “dialogue directed toward mutual understanding” with our immeasurable dignity as persons: Human dignity,” as I would like to show, is in a strict moral and legal sense connected with this relational symmetry. It is not a property like intelligence or blue eyes, that one might “possess” by nature; it rather indicates the kind of “inviolability” which comes to have a