Module 1 Flashcards
Ethics definition
- the study of ideal human behavior and ideal ways of being
- systematic approach to understanding, analyzing, distinguishing matters of right and wrong, good and bad on a CONTINUUM relating to the well being of living things.
What are ideal behaviors according to aristolte vs immanuel kant
Aristotle- lead to the goal of eudaimonia, meaning high level of happiness
Immanuel Kant - acting in accordance with one’s duty
what is well being according to kant
the freedom to exercise autonomy and capability to think rationally
Is ethics static or dynamic and why
dynamic. Dynamic is called ‘doing ethics’ because even though opinions can be subjective, they still must be back up by sound reasoning.
What is the purpose of ethics
to reach ethical determinations for a religion or a profession through the use of formal theories, approaches, codes of conduct
What are morals?
specific beliefs, behaviors, ways of being derived from ethics. Morals can be judged as good or bad by ethical analysis.
Immorality
(not immortality)
someones behavior is in opposition to societal, professional, religious or cultural beliefs.
-examples are murder, fraud etc
Amoral definition and examples
Actions done without a concern for morally good behavior
-committing a murder without a conscience or without feeling bad
Nonmoral and examples
If moral standards DO NOT APPLY to the ACTS
-should i eat cereal or bread with jam for breakfast
Unethical definition
Behavior is contrary to code of conduct that is endorsed by a profession, society, community
What are the three types of ethical INQUIRY?
Normative ethics, meta-ethics, descriptive ethics
What is normative ethics?
- An attempt to decide or prescribe values, behaviors, and ways of being that are right or wrong, good or bad.
- how we SHOULD behave or OUGHT to have done
-creates an accepted moral standard
what is common morality?
-An accepted moral standard of normative ethics.
-what most people in society agree on
for example, robbing a bank is bad and a lot of people agree on it
Meta-ethics definition
Analyzing the analysis.
-what does good really mean
-what does happiness mean
-what does virtuous mean
What form of ethics is used in research
Descriptive ethics because its thought as scientific. Describe how people behave or describe their morals
What is ethical relativism and its subtypes
-belief that ethics should differ because of a society or person
- cultural relativism your morals depend on your culture so it could be wrong in our culture but right in theirs.
- ethical subjectivism individuals create their own reality. there are no moral objectivism just individual opinions. no weight as analysis or reasoning. only feeling create morals.
What is ethical objectivism
Universal moral principles exist for everyone regardless of culture, feelings, experiences etc
Define value
something of worth
Define values
someone’s evaluative judgements about what they think is good or bad
Professional values are what to nurses?
A guide on how we ought to act and behave
-The code of ethics contains professional values for nurses
What is moral reasoning
Reasoning, or the process of determining if logic is sound also while focused on moral or ethical issues.
Importance of socrates and his contributions
- Promoted critical thinking and reasoning in Athens. Promoted thinking for yourself. Accused of corrupting youth of Athens.
- Developed the Socratic Method which means to reason via dialogue and question each other
- believes the unexamined (unanalyzed) life is not worth living
Importance of Plato and his contributions
A student of Socrates. Proposed Realm of Forms and World of Appearances
- the Tripartite soul and its three faculties
- authored Allegory of the cave
- people’s interests and best job for them is because of the three faculties
Plato’s tripartite soul definition
Faculty of reason: thought & truth (head)
Faculty of spirit: love, beauty, eternal life (chest)
Faculty of Appetite: desires and emotions (gut)
Plato’s Realm of forms
Eternal, perfect, and unchanging ideals
Plato’s World of Appearances
imperfect, decaying, and changing phenomena that are EMULATING perfect forms
Plato’s Allegory of the cave
wrote about the dangers of being closed minded & powers of enlightenment
How nursing is impacted by Plato
Florence Nightingale, aka, modern nursing founder - influenced by Faculty of Spirit (compassion, love, dedication)
Aristotle and his contributions
- Aristotle was Plato’s student. had a practical approach to reasoning. Aristotle believed that in empirical inquiry and real-world observations. believed all things have an end goal or purpose
- Phronesis is WISDOM gained through education, used for deliberating ethics.
- Phronesis’ end goal is eudaimonia
- Well reasoned actions
Artistotle Eudaimonia definition
End goal of human life, encompassing happiness and well being
Aristotle excellence of character
Combine knowing whats good, and knowing how to act
-well reasoned actions should result in
Aristotle prudence and moderation
Act wise and have moderation
Aristotle Social nature of humans
People are inherently social beings whose reasoning should:
- guide them to become good citizens and friends & promote ethical behavior
St Augustine and his contributions
- Plato version of the middle ages
- ideal, unchanging truths “heavenly moral truths” put there by god
- humans have a duty to god and b/c of that they have a moral duty
- evil is the perversion of good
- city of god vs city of man
- book ‘the city of god’
st. augustine- of the city of god vs city of man, what does this mean?
city of god represents spiritual perfection (like plato’s world of forms)
city of man represents worldly imperfection (like platos world of appearances)
St. thomas aquinas contributions
- blended aristotle’s ethics with christianity
- true happiness requires loyalty to god and humans want happiness & moral fufilment
- christian virtues like humility over artistotelian virtues (pride). doing this leads to happiness and moral fufil
- god’s laws align with moral reasoning
- eudaimonia expands to christian ideals too
What did the crusades do to europe?
they brought islamic intellectualism and brought back greek text & aristotle which helped transition europe out of the dark ages
-revival of ancient greek philosophy
What was the scientific revolution?
In the middle ages, marked a diminishing influence on the catholic church and increasing reliance on science. Initiated by Copernican theory and later by Kepler and Galileo.
- view humans as autonomous rational thinkers, contrasting with church dominated thinking of the middle ages
Key developments of the scientific revolution
- enlightenment era
- Rise of reductionism
- reflection on health care
- David Hume introduced fact/value distinction
what was the enlightenment era from the scientific revolution
discovery of all knowledge. human progress celebrated
what was reductionism from the scientific revolution
compare everything to a machine.
- analyzing components to understand the overall concept
- focus on curing diseases over holistic care, while emphasizing a mechanistic approach
What is a mechanistic approach?
treating issues like mechanical problems (just the physical)