Donaldson and Kymlicka write, “Dependency doesn’t intrinsically involve a loss of dignity, but the way in which we respond to dependency certainly does,” offering the insightful example of a dog pawing at his bowl for dinner. “If we despise dependency as a kind of weakness then when a dog paws his dinner bowl . . . we will see ingratiation or servility. However, if we don’t view dependency as intrinsically undignified, we will see the dog as a capable individual who knows what he wants and how to communicate in order to get it—as someone who has the potential for agency, preferences and
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