Medical ethics

Question 1

Dignitas personae

Answer 1

human cloning could lead to “biological slavery”

Question 2

Samuel Butler

Answer 2

humans are more complex than biology at present allows for

Question 3

Jeremy Lent

Answer 3

‘one species, genetically and technologically enhanced, exploring entirely new ways of being human; the other species, genetically akin to us, barely surviving within its collapsed infrastructure.’

Question 4

Lucassen’s reply to GE being unnatural (2)

Answer 4

‘it would be unnatural not to intervene with nature’

‘as moral agents, there are many natural desires which human beings should not conform to’

Question 5

Bernard Hoose

Answer 5

GE should be banned until present knowledge has extended further; ban isn’t permanent as it needs to be renewed in light of our increasing knowledge.

Question 6

Michael Tooley

Answer 6

rights are centred around personhood, which the foetus does not possess

Question 7

Pope Benedict XVI on life

Answer 7

‘from the moment of conception, life must be guarded with the greatest care’
–> bc ensoulment begins at conception

Question 8

How does Christian ethics contradict itself in abortion

Answer 8

book of exodus implies a different moral status for the foetus - if a woman does a baby in the womb, husband is financially compensated

Question 9

Genesis 1:27

Answer 9

personhood begins at moment of conception and shouldn’t be aborted by virtue of the imago Dei of the human being

Question 10

Gillespie

Answer 10

there is no morally relevant milestone in the biological process of development

Question 11

Pope John Paul II

Answer 11

‘the unborn human being’s right to live is one of the inalienable human rights’

Question 12

Singer’s analogy on the potential of the foetus

Answer 12

a prince is a potential king but shouldn’t be treated as king

Question 13

Church of England on the mother’s rights

Answer 13

recognises her feelings and wishes but prioritises preservation of life

Question 14

Judith Jarvis Thomson

Answer 14

sickly violinist;

the right to live is not inclusive of the right to be given the means necessary for survival

Question 15

hare

Answer 15

tries to bridge the gap between foetuses and persons by saying that most of us would have liked not to have been killed as foetuses

Question 16

assisted suicide illegal

Answer 16

Suicide act 1961

Question 17

james rachels

Answer 17

from a utilitarian point of view, withholding treatment leads to more pain and is more immoral than an active killing
example of a child in a bath: Smith arranges that he drowns, Jones doesn’t stop him from drowning

Question 18

Diane Pretty

Answer 18

the right to life includes the right to choose your own death

Question 19

John Hardwig

Answer 19

individual is not the only person affected by decisions of whether to live or die

Question 20

Foot

Answer 20

individuals can be in error about whether their lives are worth living

Question 21

christian perspective on euthanasia

Answer 21

weakens society’s respect for the sanctity of life

Question 22

The RCC on abortion, Donum Vitae (Gift of Life, 1987)

Answer 22

‘God alone is the Lord of life fro its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstances claim from himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being’

Question 23

Pope John Paul II on abortion

Answer 23

‘the unborn human being’s right to live is one of the inalienable human rights’

Question 24

Quote RM Hare on abortion (Kantian)

Answer 24

‘A Kantian approach to ethics asks us to travel back in time and speak to our mother before she consdiers aborting us’

Question 25

What is a therapeutic abortion?

Answer 25

an abortion carried out in order to protect the life or health of the mother e.g. in the case of an ectopic pregnancy

Question 26

What is the Primitive Streak?

Answer 26

After 14 days of gestation, the primitive streak appears, and with it the basic capacity to register pain

Question 27

Feminist advocate who opposed abortion on women rights ground?

Answer 27

Elizabeth Cady Stanton argued against abortion one rounds that it was used as a tool by men to exploit women and avoid their responsibilities in supporting their family.

Question 28

What does Rosalind Hursthouse argue?

Answer 28

in Beginning Lives she argues that concentrating on women’s rights alone may obscure the issue that abortion may be morally wrong

Question 29

What does Beverley Harrison argue?

Answer 29

that the women’s decision should be paramount and prohibiting abortion is a way used by men to ‘keep them in their place’ so abortion is necessary for female emancipation

Question 30

When does Augustine say ensoulment occurs?

Answer 30

46 days

Question 31

When does Aquinas say ensoulment occurs?

Answer 31

40 days for boys and 90 days for girls

Question 32

Mary Anne Warren on personhood

Answer 32

‘birth, rather than some earlier point, marks the beginning of true moral status’

Question 33

How does Mary Anne Warren argue against potentiality? (the idea that a foetus is a potential person)

Answer 33

‘if a foetus is a potential person, then so is an unfertilised human ovum with enough viable spermatozoa to achieve fertilisation: yet few would seriously suggest that these living human entities should have full and equal moral status’

Question 34

What does John Gallagher argue

Answer 34

change is too gradual; there is no single point when we can say its a person

Question 35

Psalm quote that shows relationship starts before moment of conception

Answer 35

Psalm 139:13 ‘for you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb’

Question 36

What is the significance of the word ‘blephos’

Answer 36

the word blephos (‘infant’) is used for child before and after birth so God doesn’t seem to discriminate

Question 37

bible quotes that support idea of foetus as person

Answer 37

Jeremiah 1:5 (I formed you in the womb)

Psalms 139:13 (‘you knit me together in my mother’s womb)

Question 38

Exodus 20:13

Answer 38

‘You shall not commit murder’

Question 39

Job 1:21

Answer 39

‘The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away’

Question 40

Rowan Williams quote euthanasia

Answer 40

‘every life in every imaginable situation is infinitely precious in the sight of God’

Question 41

Daniel Maguire on euthanasia

Answer 41

proportionalist, takes a revisionist view. Euthanasia is the less of two evils; bc death is a pre-moral evil, its not an intrinsic evil to shorten the life of someone.