Moral Reasoning in Bioethics

Bioethics Introduction

• Bioethics concerns ethics, morality, and life, addressing emotionally difficult decisions.

• Morality refers to beliefs about right/wrong actions and good/bad persons/character, encompassing moral judgments, standards, rules, principles, and theories.

• Moral issues are pervasive and relate directly to life, death, health, and illness.

• Bioethics issues include:

  • Fair distribution of healthcare resources.

  • Abortion and infanticide.

  • Euthanasia and assisted suicide.

  • Exploitative research.

  • Human cloning and genetic engineering.

  • Patient confidentiality and consent.

  • Organ allocation.

Types of Ethics

• Philosophy systematically examines big questions through critical reasoning.

• Ethics is the study of morality using philosophical tools; it questions moral concepts and evaluates judgments.

• Descriptive Ethics: Studies morality scientifically; describes what people do.

• Normative Ethics: Seeks and justifies moral standards; assesses how people ought to live.

• Metaethics: Studies the meaning and justification of basic moral beliefs; asks what it means for something to be right/wrong.

• Applied Ethics: Applies moral norms/theories to practical situations.

  • Bioethics is a branch of applied ethics, specifically focused on healthcare, medical science, and technology.

Moral Norms and Their Features

• Moral norms are standards that guide conduct.

• They are distinct from nonmoral norms (e.g., aesthetics, etiquette, legal).

• Four distinguishing features of moral norms:

  • Normative Dominance: Moral norms generally override other types of norms.

  • Universality: Apply to everyone in the same situation; requires consistency.

  • Impartiality: Treat everyone equally unless there are morally relevant reasons for differential treatment.

  • Reasonableness: Moral judgments are based on reasons (facts), not emotions, and involve critical thinking.

Moral Obligations, Values, and Law

• Moral obligations are duties, defining how we ought to act.

• Moral values are judgments of things as good/bad, right/wrong, praiseworthy/blameworthy.

  • Actions are right/wrong; people are good/bad (a good person can perform a wrong action).

• Law vs. Morality: Laws specify what is legal/illegal, not necessarily what is moral/immoral; they can overlap but are not identical.

  • Legal Moralism: The view that something should be illegal if it is immoral.

• Motives are crucial in moral reasoning; understanding why an action is performed is important, not just what is performed.

• Right: Obligatory or permissible.

• Wrong: Prohibited.

• Supererogatory: Actions