[2.0] Fundamental Concepts in Bioethics

Ethics

• The philosophical study of moral principles, values, and rules that guide human conduct. Its broad and universal meaning is “seeking rational justification for moral norms”

• A specialized field of ethics that applies moral principles to issues arising in life sciences, medicine, healthcare, and biotechnology.

• Ethical dilemmas concerning life, health, and the environment.

• Also understood as Professional ethics for health profession.

• Often relies on secular philosophical principles (like autonomy, beneficence, non- maleficence, justice).

Ethos

Greek word for behavior/custom

Mos/Moris

Latin word for morality

Christian Bioethics

• Bioethics informed and guided by Christian theological and moral teachings, scripture, and tradition.

• Emphasis on the following:

  • Sanctity of Life

  • Stewardship

  • Love/Charity

  • Human Dignity

Human Act/Actus Humanus

• These are actions that proceed from a person's deliberate will actions performed with knowledge, freedom, and voluntariness.

• Human acts are the only actions that are truly moral or immoral, good or evil.

• They are imputable to the person performing them, meaning the person can be praised or blamed, rewarded or punished for them.

Human Acts

Human Acts or Acts of Human?

• A doctor prescribing a specific medication after careful diagnosis and

• consideration of side effects.

• A student deciding to cheat on an exam.

• Choosing to donate blood.

Acts of Human/Actus Hominis

• These are actions that are performed by a human being but without full deliberation, freedom, or voluntariness.

• They are often natural, physiological, or instinctive actions.

• Not Morally Imputable (Generally): Since they lack the elements of a "human act," these actions are generally not considered moral or immoral in themselves.

Knowledge, Freedom, Voluntariness

• Sense of rightness or wrongness of the act.

• Sometimes Interchangeably used with the word “ethics”

• This term is more generically used.

• Ethics is used in a more proper and specific context.

Object of the Act

Sources of morality/Determinant of human acts:

• What is done

Intention or End of the Agent

Sources of morality/Determinant of human acts:

• Why it is done

Circumstances of the Act

Sources of morality/Determinant of human acts:

• Who, Where, When, How

Ad supra

• Refers to a consistent set of universal rules that are widely published, generally accepted and usually enforced.

• The official rules and codes that governs citizens’ action’

• An ordinance of reason promulgated by a duly constituted authority for the common good of the society

Natural Law

• Refers to the inherent moral order discoverable by human reason, reflecting God's eternal law imprinted on creation.

• Natural desire to understand, learn, and grow.

• Humans are social beings, requiring justice, order, and community.

• Example: the natural inclination not to harm an innocent person, or the recognition that stealing is wrong because it violates another's right to property.

Divine Law

• Moral principles explicitly revealed by God through sacred texts and traditions.

• It clarifies, reinforces, and perfects the Natural Law, providing a more explicit and certain guide for moral living.

• Old Testament:

• New Testament:

Old Testament

Primarily the Ten Commandments (Decalogue) – foundational moral precepts (e.g., "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou shalt not steal").

New Testament

The teachings of Jesus Christ, especially the Beatitudes and the Great Commandment of Love (love of God and neighbor), which elevate and internalize the moral law.

The fundamental principles of action

• Actions that essentially follow man’s natural way of doing and pursuing

• What is good and beneficial for him, for no one desires what is evil and harmful

• Principle of “beneficence’ and “non-maleficence”

• “Primum non nocere” = first do no harm.

Primum non nocere

Means “first, do no harm”

The general moral principles of relationship

• Guides us in sustaining and preserving basic relationship with God, fellowmen, himself and creation.

• Examples: worship, honoring parents, preservation of life, and all provisions contained in the decalogue.

Applications of the Fundamental and General Principles to Particular Situations in Life and Society

• Are necessary so that justice, human rights and dignity would be preserved.

• Various codes and declarations serve as guide to the medical moral actions”

  • Hippocratic Oath

  • ICME (international code for medical ethics)

  • Geneva Declaration

  • Code of Helsinki

Remote Conclusions

• Inferences derived from philosophical and theological reasoning and other deep human reflections based on some moral or ethical principles and concepts.

  • Evil of abortion

  • Contraceptive practices

  • Divorce

  • Gay marriages

  • Euthanasia

  • Human organ solicitation

  • Ghost surgeries

Conscience

• The proximate norm of morality

• While Natural Law, Divine Law, and Church Teaching are objective standards, it is our personal, subjective application of these standards to our concrete actions.

• It's the immediate guide for our actions, telling us what we must do or must not do in a specific situation. It's where objective moral truth meets personal decision.

Conscience

• While it can manifest as feelings of guilt or peace, it is

• fundamentally an act of the intellect – a judgment of reason.

• It applies universal moral principles (like "do good, avoid evil") to a specific, concrete situation.

• Example: "Stealing is wrong" (universal principle). "Therefore, I should not steal this item from the store" (practical judgment of conscience).

Principle of Well-formed Conscience

States that “to have good judgement of conscience, one is obliged to form it diligently in accordance with some reasonable processes, so that one arrives at a right moral decision.”