Bioethics & Ethical Theory (2) Flashcards
What is the Smith’s Hospital Visit Thought Experiment?
The Smith’s Hospital Visit Thought Experiment challenges the idea that calculating consequences alone justifies morally lacking actions. It suggests that even if someone were to calculate that an action brings more happiness than unhappiness, there might still be moral concerns.
What is Virtue Ethics?
Virtue ethics challenges Utilitarianism and Deontology by emphasizing moral character over obligations. It asserts that people of truly virtuous character do the right things for the right reasons.
(Virtue ethics = not very action guided)
How does Virtue Ethics differ from Utilitarianism and Deontology?
Instead of focusing on actions and duties, Virtue Ethics focuses on character development and cultivating good habits of character. It is more concerned with being than doing and seeks to produce excellent persons.
What is a key principle of Virtue Ethics?
A key principle of Virtue Ethics is to “always act as a virtuous person would.”
What are some challenges of applying Virtue Ethics to moral dilemmas?
While Virtue Ethics has appeal and popularity, it does not easily provide answers to moral dilemmas. It may be difficult to determine what a good person would do in complex situations.
What is the Trolley Car Thought Experiment?
The Trolley Car Thought Experiment presents a scenario where a person must make a moral decision about diverting a trolley to save several strangers at the expense of their own loved one.
What is the common intuition in scenarios like the Trolley Car Thought Experiment?
Most people intuitively feel entitled to prioritize their own family or loved ones in situations like this, within reason.
How do Utilitarianism and Deontology typically handle situations like the Trolley Car Thought Experiment?
Neither Utilitarianism nor Deontology, in their standard forms, adequately account for the prioritization of loved ones in scenarios like the Trolley Car Thought Experiment.
Why have Feminist philosophers challenged Utilitarianism and Deontology?
Feminist philosophers have challenged Utilitarianism and Deontology because these traditional moral frameworks do not adequately address the importance of caring and close relationships, which are significant in moral decision-making.
What is the Ethics of Care?
The Ethics of Care is a moral theory proposed by Carol Gilligan in 1982, suggesting that men and women have different approaches to morality. Women’s morality tends to focus on caring for others, being concerned about their interests, and attending to their needs.
How does Carol Gilligan characterize men’s approach to morality?
Carol Gilligan suggests that men tend to think in terms of the application of abstract moral principles, base their decisions on rational calculation, impersonal duty, and respect contracts.
How does the Ethics of Care differ from traditional moral approaches?
The Ethics of Care emphasizes caring, empathy, feeling with others, and being sensitive to each other’s feelings as better guides to morality than abstract rules of reason or rational calculation.
According to Virginia Held, what may be necessary components of an adequate morality?
According to Virginia Held in 1990, caring, empathy, feeling with others, and being sensitive to each other’s feelings may be necessary components of an adequate morality.
Are the differences between men and women in morality as clear as suggested by some authors?
The supposed differences between men and women in morality may not be as clear or significant as these authors suggest, but their challenge to male-dominated ethics is plausible.
What considerations does the Ethics of Care emphasize in morality?
The Ethics of Care emphasizes considerations such as caring, empathy, sympathy, and emotion as relevant in ethics.
What is emphasized in the Ethics of Care regarding relationships?
The Ethics of Care not only focuses on promoting good relationships and including emotional considerations in our thinking but also emphasizes the importance of special relationships, such as family relationships.
How has the Ethics of Care been received in bioethics?
While the Ethics of Care approach is not dominant, it has been taken up by some bioethicists, possibly due to the nature of medical practice.
What is Social Contract Theory or Contractarianism?
Social Contract Theory posits that moral norms are valid because they are what we would all agree to if we negotiated them in a reasonable and unbiased way. Moral rules are considered a kind of (unwritten) social contract that we agree to uphold.
What are the four principles of Principlism? (4)
Ethics of Care
Utilitarianism
Contractarianism
Ubuntu
