Human dignity is at the summit of the moral high ground, particularly at national and international peace and justice conferences or truce meetings, during which appeals are made for a common human understanding, social justice, or protecting the vulnerable from harm. The notion of human dignity harbors cherished Western values such as respect for persons, autonomy of the individual, peaceable dialogue and negotiation (Engelhardt 1996), fundamental human rights (UNESCO 1948), equal protection under a rule of law. Yet like many foundations of thought and culture today, postmodern critiques question the validity of this hard-fought concept. What justifies the appeal to this inner quality shared by all human beings (Singer 1993)? How does human vulnerability give rise to the notion or defeat it? Is it merely a liberal notion that is forced upon more communitarian societies in an act of cultural imperialism (Thomasma 1997)? This essay will explore the relationship of dignity, personhood, and vulnerability in order to sort out the issues and provide a basis for the reality of human dignity in the very vulnerability of sickness and mortality we all share. This finitude is also an anchor of our personhood.