Application of Ethical Theories Flashcards
Theft - Natural Moral Law (general)
- breaches the primary precept to live in an ordered society
- contrary to the secondary precept not to steal, which is reinforced by divine law in the commandment ‘You shall not steal’
Theft - Natural Moral Law (Aquinas’s exception)
- a starving man might steal food from someone who had plenty
- the primary precept to preserve life comes before that relating to an ordered society
- could be seen as practicing the cardinal virtue of justice and the theological virtue of love
Theft - Proportionalism in response to Aquinas’s exception
- the intention is good i.e., to save a life
- the value of saving a life would be proportionally greater than the disvalue of injustice to the victim of theft
Theft - Situation Ethics
- Fletcher would consider the teachings of the Church/Bible but would not feel bound by them
- the interests of people take priority over rules
- motive and consequences of an action, for the individual and for others, would be considered
- agape is considered and agapeic calculus is applied for justice
Theft - Virtue Ethics
- the focus is on acting from habit, developed through a lifetime of practice and emulating a phronimos
this allows for flexibility, depending on the person and the situation - Aristotle denounced all theft as a base action
- it has no mean, since it can never be the act of a virtuous person
- there is no excess or deficiency
Theft - Virtue Ethics: situation of a starving child
- his teachings were addressed to his own social class where starvation or some other urgent need would not be an issue
- he might have seen taking what was needed to prevent starvation as an act of justice and not as theft
Lying - Natural Moral Law
- breaches the primary precept to live in an ordered society
- contrary to the secondary precept not to tell lies
- goes against cardinal virtues of courage and justice
- Aquinas viewed all forms of lying as wrong, even those intended to save life
Lying Natural Moral Law (exception)
- Aquinas viewed ‘prudently keeping back the truth’ as morally permissible
- this could be termed a ‘necessary lie’ as it is told to protect someone from danger
Example: Kant’s Axeman
Lying - Proportionalism
- there are exceptions to lying being morally wrong
- in the case of a ‘necessary lie’, the value of saving a life or protecting from harm would be proportionally greater than the disvalue of injustice to the person being told the lie
Lying - Situation Ethics
- Fletcher says lying not intrinsically right nor wrong
- depends on what would affirm love in each situation
- if applying the agapeic calculus showed that love would be best served by lying e.g., by telling a white lie, then lying would be good
Lying - Virtue Ethics
- contradicts Aristotle’s moral virtues of truthfulness and courage
- in some circumstances, friendship, loyalty and honour might require a lie to be told
- the virtue of practical wisdom enables a virtuous person to know which virtue takes priority in difficult situations
Truthfulness (lying, VE)
- relates to social interaction
- about not presenting a false image of oneself
- about how one fits into society
- about keeping promises and honest dealings
- more complex than just lying/telling the truth as it combines a range of virtues (e.g., courageous to admit failings)
Embryo research, cloning, designer babies - NML Primary Precepts
creation of embryo through IVF breaches three primary precepts:
- worship of God - only God alone can create life
- reproduction - sexual act must not be separated from procreative act
- living in an ordered society - separating the unitive (physical union between man and woman during sex) from the procreative may threaten marriage and family harmony
Embryo research, cloning, designer babies - NML destruction of embryos
- at 14 days at least, embryos used in research must be destroyed
- this breaches the primary precept of preservation of innocent life
- tantamount to murder
- in NML, both the intention and the action must be good, but in this case the action is wrong
Embryo research, cloning, designer babies - NML creation of designer babies for social reasons
- breaches worship of God
- breaches living in an ordered society
devalues the weak
leads to discrimination based on wealth
it may lead to a race of super-humans
Embryo research, cloning, designer babies - SE status of embryo
- personhood was what conferred (granted) rights
- the embryo is only a potential person as it does not possess characteristics of personhood (self-awareness, communication)
- therefore, embryo research etc., do not pose moral concerns
Embryo research, cloning, designer babies - SE techniques used
- all techniques supported, providing proper controls were in place
- humans are in control of their own reproduction
- Fletcher rejected that humanity is created in God’s image
- what the agapeic calculus showed to be the most loving action is right
Embryo research, cloning, designer babies - SE purposes of the techniques
- whatever most affirmed love and fulfilled the criteria of the agapeic calculus was what mattered
- the intention in many situations involving these techniques were good
Embryo research, cloning, designer babies - VE destruction of embryos
- key virtue is compassion
- a compassionate person would likely focus more on those whose lives are being ruined by infertility, illnesses and life-threatening genetic disorders
Embryo research, cloning, designer babies - VE techniques used
- key virtue is compassion
- it might be callous not to use PGD to prevent the birth of a child with a life-limiting genetic disorder
- justice is key, and practical wisdom would be needed to determine when these techniques would demonstrate virtue and when they would not
