Bioethics and Moral Reasoning Vocabulary Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering moral principles, normative theories, autonomy, paternalism, legal/ethical distinctions, argument structure, and fallacies based on PHIL 241 lecture notes.

Moral Norms

Standards that tell how people ought to behave when their actions affect the rights, welfare, dignity, or interests of others, carrying greater weight than customs or etiquette.

Normative Dominance

The characteristic of moral norms where they take precedence over other nonmoral standards, such as aesthetic, legal, or prudential norms.

Universality

The characteristic of moral norms requiring that a moral principle or judgment applies consistently in all relevantly similar situations.

Impartiality

The requirement implicit in moral norms that everyone's interests be considered equal and treated the same unless a morally relevant difference exists.

Autonomy

A person's rational capacity for self-governance or self-determination, enabling them to make informed decisions about their own life and body.

Beneficence

The core bioethical principle obligating healthcare providers to act to benefit others, advance their welfare, and prevent or remove harm.

Nonmaleficence

The fundamental bioethical principle instructing healthcare practitioners to avoid inflicting unnecessary harm or injury on those in their care.

Justice

The moral principle referring to people getting what is fair or due, requiring that equals be treated equally in the distribution of medical benefits and burdens.

Utility

The principle requiring actions or policies to produce the most favorable overall balance of good over bad (or benefits over harms) for all concerned.

Prima Facie Principle

A moral principle that applies and guides decisions in all cases unless an exception is warranted because a competing principle carries greater weight.

Utilitarianism

A consequentialist ethical theory holding that an action is morally right if it produces the greatest net balance of happiness or welfare over suffering for everyone affected.

Act Utilitarianism

A form of utilitarianism asserting that an individual action is right if it produces the best net consequences in that specific situation.

Rule Utilitarianism

A form of utilitarianism holding that an action is right if it conforms to a general rule that would produce the greatest good if consistently followed by society.

Jeremy Bentham

An early utilitarian philosopher who held that pleasures and pains differ mainly in quantity and can be measured by intensity, duration, certainty, and extent.

John Stuart Mill

A utilitarian philosopher who distinguished between higher intellectual/moral pleasures and lower physical pleasures, asserting that pleasures differ in quality as well as quantity.

Mill's Harm Principle

The principle articulated in On Liberty (1859) stating that society may only restrict a competent individual's liberty to prevent harm to others.

Deontology

An ethical framework holding that morality rests on duties and the intrinsic nature of actions rather than on their outcomes or consequences.

Categorical Imperative

In Kantian ethics, an absolute, unconditional moral command that binds rational beings to perform an action strictly out of duty regardless of personal desires or goals.

Hypothetical Imperative

A conditional command that tells us what we should do to achieve a specific personal desire or goal (e.g., "If you want to become a doctor, study").

Universal Law Formulation

Kant's first formulation of the Categorical Imperative: act only according to a rule that you could rationally will everyone to follow as a universal law.

Humanity as an End Formulation

Kant's second formulation of the Categorical Imperative: treat every person as an end in themselves and never merely as a means to an end.

Perfect Duties

In Kantian ethics, strict duties that allow no exceptions, such as the prohibitions against lying, committing suicide, or breaking promises.

Imperfect Duties

In Kantian ethics, duties that allow flexibility in how and when they are fulfilled, such as the duties to help others or cultivate one's talents.

Singer's Proposal

Peter Singer's argument that if we can prevent something bad from happening without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we are morally obligated to do so.

Supererogatory Action

An action that is morally praiseworthy and goes above and beyond the call of duty, but is not strictly morally required.

Weak Paternalism

Paternalism directed at individuals who lack decision-making capacity or whose autonomy is substantially diminished or absent.

Strong Paternalism

The overriding of an action or choice of a substantially autonomous person for that person's own perceived good.

Gawande's Guided Autonomy

Atul Gawande's shared decision-making approach where physicians guide patients by connecting medical options with patient values while leaving final choices with capable patients.

Medical Futility

The alleged pointlessness or ineffectiveness of administering a medical treatment that is inconsistent with reasonable standards of practice.

EMTALA

The Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (1986), a federal law requiring hospital emergency rooms receiving federal funds to provide care to anyone regardless of ability to pay.

Principlism

An approach to bioethics, developed by Beauchamp and Childress (1979), using core guiding principles (autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice) for moral decision-making.

Jay Katz

A Yale doctor and ethicist whose 1984 book The Silent World of Doctor and Patient critiqued traditional medical paternalism and advocated for patient choice.

Carl Schneider

Author of The Practice of Autonomy, who found that sick patients are often overwhelmed and prioritize physician competence and kindness over pure decision-making autonomy.

Descriptive Ethics

The study of morality using empirical scientific methodology to investigate the actual moral beliefs, behaviors, and practices of individuals or cultures.

Normative Ethics

The branch of ethics dedicated to searching for, establishing, and rationally justifying moral standards, principles, rules, and virtues.

Metaethics

The branch of ethics that investigates the fundamental meaning, nature, and justification of basic moral concepts and beliefs.

Applied Ethics

The use of moral norms, theories, and concepts to resolve specific, practical moral issues in real-world professional or everyday contexts.

Bioethics

A subfield of applied ethics focused on moral issues arising in healthcare, medical technology, biological research, and medical science.

Moral Objectivism

The view that at least some moral standards or principles are objective, valid, and true for everyone regardless of individual or cultural endorsement.

Moral Absolutism

The belief that objective moral principles allow no exceptions whatsoever and must be applied identically across all cases and cultures.

Ethical Relativism

The view that moral standards are not objective but are completely created by and relative to individual or cultural beliefs.

Subjective Relativism

The view that an action is morally right if sanctioned or approved by an individual person, making morality a matter of personal taste.

Cultural Relativism

The view that an action is morally right if endorsed by a person's culture or society, implying that cultures are morally infallible.

Divine Command Theory

The doctrine that right actions are those commanded by God, and wrong actions are those forbidden by God.

Legal Moralism

The view that a behavior or practice may be prohibited by law solely on the grounds that it is considered immoral, regardless of physical or economic harm.

Deductive Argument

An argument intended to offer logically conclusive support to its conclusion, ensuring that if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true.

Inductive Argument

An argument intended to give probable support to its conclusion, making the conclusion more likely true than not if the premises are true.

Modus Ponens

A valid deductive argument form with the structure: If p then q; p; therefore, q (also called affirming the antecedent).

Modus Tollens

A valid deductive argument form with the structure: If p then q; not q; therefore, not p (also called denying the consequent).

Straw Man Fallacy

An informal logical fallacy involving the misrepresentation or distortion of a person's views so they can be easily attacked or dismissed.

Ad Hominem Fallacy

An informal logical fallacy (appeal to the person) that rejects a claim based on the personal characteristics, background, or circumstances of the person making it.

Begging the Question

An informal logical fallacy in which an argument attempts to prove a conclusion by using that very same conclusion as support (circular reasoning).

Slippery Slope Fallacy

An informal logical fallacy arguing erroneously that taking a particular action will inevitably lead to a chain of events resulting in disaster without supporting evidence.