聯合國各人權公約都提到人之尊嚴（dignity of human person），我國憲法增修條文第6項第10款稱為「人格尊嚴」，多次大法官會議解釋也以此作為基本人權的基礎。人之尊嚴不是某種人權，而是人權條款的基礎原則。亦即人必須是一個自由意志的主體，不可以是客體而任人處置；就此，近代哲學家康德更強調這是理性的自我立法者，不受自然法則約束。從觀念溯源，人格（person）概念於古希臘羅馬以及早期基督宗教已經涉及。在前者，希臘的重要哲學家如柏拉圖和亞里斯多德都提到人格，不過其地位大致類似面具。羅馬法當中，人格是法律上的主體，傾向法律程序的技術性概念。至於基督宗教則吸納了古希臘的想法特點，並進一步轉成基督宗教的樣式；人（個體）不是也不應是面具，否則人難以是個自由的人格。並且人格彼此以自由意志促成人格與人格之間的共融，沒有共融關係則人格難以存立。對照下來，現代人習慣自我為中心，又苦於疏離、憂鬱、孤單。而基督宗教的位格觀念就有參考；讓人走出自我，擔起積極的責任倫理；列維納斯的他者和馬丁布伯的我－你觀念也有類似的啟發。

All the UN conventions on human rights have mentioned the concept of dignity of human person. In Taiwan, the Grand Justice Counsel usually interprets the Constitution of the ROC by the Section 6 of Article 10 with the same way as the UN; that is, dignity of human right is not one of human rights provisions of constitution but the basic principle of them. We can say that one person is a free subject of his will, and not an object dominated by others. Immanuel Kant a philosopher emphasized that this person is a self-legitimator, and is not disciplined by the rule of the nature. If we trace back to the oriental idea, the concept of ＂person＂ was seen in the ancient culture of Greco-Roman and Christianity. In ancient Greek, philosophers Plato or Aristotle usually mentioned about ＂person＂; in the Roman Law. A person is the subject of legal system, an operational one in the legal processes. By contrast, the Christianity absorbed Greco-Roman's idea of ancient culture and transformed it into his own style. So, a person (an individual existence) is not and should not be a mask; otherwise, a person cannot be a free person. With the free will, persons form a communion since person dignity does not exist without a communion. Nowadays, people are self-center, yet they also feel isolated, depressed, and lonely. The concept of person in Christianity gives a direction to modern people to step out of their dilemma by actively taking up their responsibility. Emmanuel Levinas's the Other and Martin Buber's Thou-I concept share similar inspiration.