W2 Flashcards
Ethical theories:
help us think clearly about ethical dilemmas, orientation for justified options
Ethical reasoning:
- integral part of modern medicine in the same way that clinical reasoning is
- ability to reflect on moral issues
- ability to identify, assess, and develop ethical arguments from a variety of ethical positions
BASIS: what should one do?
Duty & rights: taking the right action
Character & relationship: Being a good person
Consequences: Predicting best possible outcomes
Consequentialism:
Of all the things a person might do at any given moment, the morally right action is the one with the best overall consequences => action is right if it promotes the best consequences
Risks vs Benefits
End product > Means to achieve it (treating cancer, surplus of embryos)
Utilitarianism:
An ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes => the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the best outcome for the most people
Utilitarianism according to Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill:
the greatest good to the greatest number of people, which is the measure of right and wrong; pleasure is “the only good” & pain “without exception, the only evil”
Utilitarianism offers a relatively straightforward method for deciding the morally right course of action:
- identify the various courses of action that we could perform.
- determine all of the foreseeable benefits and harms that would result from each course of action for everyone affected by the action.
- choose the course of action that provides the greatest benefits (for the majority) after the costs have been taken into account.
Act utilitarianism vs Rule utilitarianism:
Act: principle of utility if directly used to guide actions (assess & promote the consequences of specific actions)
Rule: the principle of utility is used to formulate the general rules which in turn are used to formulate guide actions (best rules to follow overall)
