Medical Ethics - Introduction notes

human behavior

hierarchy of needs

motivation by values

the difference between “is” and “ought”
* inner voice telling us what we ought to do, even in the face of pressing needs
* men on titanic example (ought to let women get off the boat first)

value system

value: set of subjective feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and opinions that guide ourunderstanding of what ought to be

value theorists

Kohlberg model

level 1 - preconventional morality
* stage 1 - reward and punishment
* stage 2 - individualism and exchange
level 2 - conventional morality
* stage 3 - good boy/good girl
* stage 4 - law and order orientation
level 3 - postconventional morality
* stage 5 - social contract
* stage 6 - universal principles

Gilligan challenge

boys and girls may follow different developmental paths in gaining value systems - two separate paths that lead to different highest values
highest value
* girls - personal responsibility
* males - legalistic equality
value models
* girls - based on caring
* males - based on equality and justice
should be a blend of both

Massey’s value cohorts

you are what you are because of where you were when
  * significant emotional events happen to the society as a whole
  * people within a historical time frame are shaped by the same significant events
  * time frame cohorts share similar values based on shared experiences
traditionalists
* great depression → world war 2
in-betweeners
* post world war 2 america → cold war
challengers
* civil rights movement → vietnam
synthesizers
* fall of communism → globalization

key concepts

value-based motivation is more subjected than that based on needs
humans have an innate capacity to acquire ethical beliefs taught by our culture
Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, Carol Gilligan, Morris Massey are all important value theorists