Note: The ethical judgments on this page refer exclusively to the action — never to the person who performs it. Every person possesses inalienable dignity, regardless of what they do or have done. Cf. Note on ethical judgments (German).
Displacement is the forced removal of a person from their homeland. It is a spatial form of practical oblivion of the person, which violates the person in several dimensions of their personhood.
The personal-ontological significance of displacement is disclosed by the understanding of the person as a body-soul unity. The person is essentially bodily and thus essentially spatial. They do not exist abstractly, but in a place, in a surrounding, in a web of relations. The homeland is not merely a geographical point. It is the space in which the First Dimension of personhood takes on its concrete shape: dwelling, neighborhood, belonging, familiarity.
Displacement tears the person out of this context. It thereby violates the conditions under which personhood can unfold in the Second and Third Dimension. The displaced person loses not only their place of residence, but often also their social relations, their interpersonal ties, and their possibilities for self-transcendence. Thereby the realization of the Personalist Norm — the affirmation of the person for their own sake — is structurally prevented.
Displacement stands in close connection with violence and war. It is often their concomitant or consequence. As a collective action it violates not only individual persons, but the common good of entire communities. It degrades persons to movable objects that can be resettled, expelled, or “transferred.” This is a radical disregard of the someone-character of the person.
The dignity of the displaced person remains, to be sure, untouched — it is grounded in personhood, not in external circumstances. But displacement violates the right of the person to those living conditions needed for the unfolding of their personhood.
Ontological classification
Superordinate concept: Practical Oblivion of the Person
Ontological relations:
- violates: Personalist Norm
- violates structurally: First Dimension of personhood
- stands in connection with: War, Violence
- harms: Common Good
Chapter assignment: Chapter 5: Oblivion of the Person (German)
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology. Bexten 2017, pp. 293–306 (oblivion of the person as a deficiency phenomenon and practical consequences).