In contemporary society, elder care has been organized around functional maintenance and risk management, a process that has reinforced the tendency to treat older adults as objects of administrative control. This study critically examines the limitations of this function-centered care discourse and theoretically explores a new care perspective centered on dignity. To this end, the study first analyzes how a function-centered view of the human person has been formed and structured within elder care discourse and institutional practice. Second, drawing on the work of Nussbaum, Taylor, Kitwood, and Tronto, dignity is reconceptualized as a value grounded in human existence itself while simultaneously experienced and confirmed through relational encounter. Third, the four pillars of Humanitude are interpreted as practical principles for enacting dignity within the everyday scenes of care. The study argues that the shift toward dignity-centered care is connected to concrete practical tasks—including the reform of care worker education and the redesign of long-term care assessment indicators—and that the quality of care must be expanded to encompass relational experience and the meaning of life.