Bioethics chapter 1
Morality is NOT the same as ethics.
It is about:
Rules
Principles
Theories
All of which direct conduct.
Moral obligations: Concern our duty, and refer to conduct. Basically how to behave. Refers to actions.
Moral values: Judgment of something that is morally right or wrong.
Ethics:
Ethics is the study of morality using the tools/methods of philosophy. Ethics is also known as moral philosophy.
It delves into the meaning of moral concepts and issues.
“Ethics seeks to know whether an action is right or wrong, what moral standards should guide our conduct, whether moral principles can be justified, what moral virtues are worth cultivating and why, what ultimate ends people should pursue in life, whether there are good reasons for accepting a particular moral theory, and what the meaning is of such notions as right, wrong, good, and bad”
Branches of ethics:
Descriptive: Investigating the empirical facts of morality. The actual behaviors, beliefs and practices that determine a person’s moral experience. (Anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists)
There are three main branches.
Normative: Search and justification of moral norms/standards. Aim of the branch is to establish norms as proper guides for our actions and judgments.
Metaethics: Meaning and justification of moral beliefs. In metaethics, we ask what it means for an action to be right or wrong in context. So basically, what is wrong and what is right?
Applied ethics: Use of moral norms or concepts to solve a moral issue. These often relate to a professional field like law, business, or journalism.
Bioethics is a branch of this that deals with healthcare moral issues.
Nonmoral norms:
Aesthetic: Value judgments about art
Prudential: What is in one’s own best interest
Legal: What is lawful or unlawful.
Moral norms are different from nonmoral norms in several ways.
Normative dominance: Moral norms override/dominate nonmoral norms. “A maxim of prudence, for example, may suggest that you should steal if you can avoid getting caught, but a moral prohibition against stealing would overrule such a principle”
Impartiality: Everyone is treated equally and no one is above moral norms.
Reasonableness: Moral norms are determined through careful consideration and planning rather than knee jerk reactions. Decisions are thoughtfully dissected and the best choice is made after thorough examination.
Supererogatory action: An action that is above and beyond our duty.
Absolute principle: Applies without exceptions.
Prima facie: Applies in all cases unless an exception is present.
W.D. Ross pointed out this distinction in the 1930 book: The Right and the Good.
“Physicians have a prima facie duty to be truthful to their patients as well as a prima facie duty to promote their welfare”
Bioethics:
Composed of five main principles:
Autonomy: Person’s rational capacity to self govern/make decisions. Prima facie.
Violations of autonomy could be performing experiments on them without consent, drugging them, restraining patients without reason, etc.
Drug addicts are thought to have low autonomy, same with infants and children
Paternalism: Overriding a decision for a person’s own good. There are different kinds: Weak and strong. Weak paternalism can be something such as restraining a psychotic patient. Strong paternalism is thought to be morally objectionable.
Nonmaleficence: Preventing unnecessary harm in the care setting. Basically don’t intentionally or unintentionally inflict harm on others. Can be a physical injury due to malice or negligence.
Beneficence: Different from benevolence. Actively promote the wellbeing of others and prevent/remove harm from them. (Some are against this, saying things like we are not obligated to help the poor, etc.)
Utility: Produce the most favorable balance of good over bad for all concerned. (Benefit over harm)
Justice: Getting what is fair or what is due.
Distributive justice: Distribution of society’s advantages/disadvantages
Retributive: Fair meting out of punishment for wrongdoing? (Idk)
Justice relates to some theories:
Libertarian: Personal freedom and right to pursue one’s own social and economic being in a free market without interference. (Sweet capitalism)
Egalitarian: A just distribution is an equal distribution. Everyone should share. (Socialism?)
Ethical relativism:
Moral objectivism: Some morals are objective (not influenced by opinion)
Moral absolutism: Objective moral principles allow no exceptions.
Ethical relativism: Could undermine all of ethics. “According to this view, moral standards are not objective but are relative to what individuals or cultures believe. There simply are no objective moral truths, only relative ones”. Basically morals vary across cultures, what may be considered moral in one culture may be immoral in another.”
Subjective relativism: Referring to one person. View of an action committed by an individual. Based on a person’s own feelings/values.
Cultural relativism: Cultural relativism says that moral rightness is whatever a culture or society approves of.
Divine command theory: Right actions are those commanded by god. Criticized because some believe morals to be independent from God.
Arguments:
Argument: Set of assertions with at least one statement providing support for another. Different from persuasion which involves influencing someone’s opinion and trying to convince them to do something. (Doesn’t necessarily prove anything like an argument does).
Premises: Supporting statements
Conclusion: Supported statement
A good argument has to have solid logic and true premises.
Basically the conclusion should follow the premise, there must be a logical connection.
Premises must be the case.
Deductive argument: Intended to give logical conclusive support so if the premise is true, the conclusion must be true.
Inductive arguments: Basically making a guess. Giving probable support to the conclusion.
If: Often functions as the antecedent.
Then: Often functions as the consequent.
Conditional statements use these!
Modus ponens:
If the surgeon operates, then the patient will be cured. The surgeon is operating. Therefore, the patient will be cured.
Modus tollens (Denying consequent):
If the dose is low, then the healing is slow. The healing is not slow. Therefore, the dose is not low.
Invalid argument formats:
Affirming the consequent:
If the patient is getting better, then drugs are unnecessary.
Drugs are unnecessary.
Therefore, the patient is getting better.
If p, then q
q
Therefore, p
Denying the antecedent:
If the rate of infection is increasing, then the patients will die.
The rate of infection is not increasing.
Therefore, the patients will not die.
If p, then q
Not p
Therefore, not q.
A moral argument is one that ends in a moral statement.
Bad arguments:
Strawman: Misrepresentation of view so they can be more easily attacked.
Ad hominem fallacy (appeal to the person): Rejecting a statement on the grounds that it comes from a particular person, not because the statement, or claim, itself is false or dubious.
Appeal to ignorance: A claim is true because it has not been proven false. A claim is false because it has not been proven true.
Slippery slope: Erroneous argument that a particular action should not be taken because it will lead to dire consequences.
Begging the question: Circular argument, instead of proving something they just restate it in different ways. Basically making an assumption and running with it. Example: The Bible says that God exists. The Bible is true because God wrote it. Therefore, God exists. (Assumption that the bible is true)
Dunning Kreger effect: Being ignorant of how ignorant we really are.