Week 5 - Ethics - The Dark Side Flashcards
What are the alternatives to Speciesism according to singer?
- preserve equality by raising the status of animals, granting them the same status we now grant to humans
or
- Preserve equality by lowering the status of humans to that which we now grant to animals
or - Abandon the idea of equal value of all humans, replacing that with a more graduated view in which moral status depends on some aspects of cognitive ability, and that graduated view is applied both to humans and nonhumans
What lead to a more broad recognition that we needed clear guidelines about behaviour in the medical profession?
Prior to WWII there was no formal code of ethics, medical professionals were expected to know what was right
What interrogation techniques are based on the principles of learned helplessness and designed to demoralise, distress and traumatise people?
Water boarding
Checked medical records to see if there were any phobias or psychiatric conditions to target
Left in freezing conditions (one prisoner died)
Locked in boxes
Sleep deprivation/starvation
Mock executions
How did Mitchell defend unethical interrogation techniques?
These techniques lead to the discovery of information that stopped other terrorist attacks , and therefore the harm to a small number of people was outweighed by the greater good.
What did the Hoffman report (2015) find about the APA’s relationship with the department of defence?
The report found that APA had actively colluded with the DoD to make sure ethical guidelines didn’t hinder military objectives
Why are Harry Harlow’s primate experiments controversial?
Deprived primate infant of their mothers - isolation chambers of infant primates
However, Lauren Slate (2004) said that the birthing industry/social services/orphanages had critical policy changes due to this research
Found out a lot about human attachment
What were some of the symptoms that primates possessed after HArry Harlow’s isolation experiments?
Self clutching
Rocking
Long-term social and emotional obliteration
What did Harlow do to mimic severe human depression?
“pit of despair”
Vertical isolation chamber that was used to break down already socialised monkeys (some as old as 3)
What happened to the primates that were isolated in Harlow’s “pit of despair”?
Some rehabilitative efforts led to improvement in some of the socially and psychologically devastated monkeys
however, others had long-lasting effects such as
- radically deficient social behaviour,
- stereotyped behaviours,
- self injury,
- cognitive deficiency,
- inability to normally mate or parent
What are the rights-based perspectives of animal research?
Abolitionist
Permissive
What is the utilitarian approach to animal welfare?
human benefit against the equal consideration of nonhuman animal pain and suffering in determining whether a study may be justified
What is an alternative to rights-based and utilitarian perspectives?
Virtue ethics
What is virtue ethics?
Places character centre-stage in determining appropriate action, attends closely to the formation of good and bad habits
What rule did psychiatrists follow that psychologists do not?
Doctors could not deviate from their ethical obligations, even if a country’s laws allowed or demanded otherwise
What rule did psychologists follow that allowed them to participate in torture and abuse?
Nurmeburg defence
“i was only following orders”
They are permitted to assist in torture and abuse if they can claim that they first tried to resolve the conflict between their ethical responsibility and the law, regulations or government legal authority. Otherwise they can invoke the nuremburg defense
