Bio Ethics MT

Ethics

- A theory about what is morally right and wrong - Study of theories or systems of moral values

consiquentialism

- do x if you want to accomplish Y Ethical theories that evaluate the ethical status of actions based on their conformity or nonconformity to some standard - two Consiquentialist theories: Ethical egoism (self), and Utilitarianism (group/society)

Golden mean

Aristotle's term for describing ethical behavior as a midpoint between extremes *balance*

Bioethics

Bio=life - denotes science and ethos = behavioral - moral beliefs and behaviors - the analysis and ethical conflict and problems which arise d/t the interrelationship between the practice of the medical/bilogical science and rights and values of human beings - deals with four basic ideas: life and death issues, clinical or health-care issues, medical research, and social healthcare policy (foreman, 17)***

ethics matter of Discovery

Different societies create different rules

ethics vs morals

Ethics: standard --> good/bad Morals: personal

The Irenaean theodicy

God doesnt craete evil, but he alows evil to develop in order to try, strengrhem and purify us

special revelation

God's knowledge of spiritual matters can be discovered through spiritual means (miracals or scripture)

Euthyphro Dilemma

Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?

General Revelation

Knowledge of God descovered through natural means (looking at nature, philosophy, theologies) - is God communicating general truths to all people

Modified Divine Command Theory

Moral goodness derives from the character of God, and particularly his love.

Thomas Aquinas

Roman catholic theologianm + philosopher. thought both theology and natural philosophy are valid paths to truth and that the christian scholar could/should study both.

Philosophical ethics

Using only our thinking and/or reasoning to determine what is moral.

Divine Nature Theory

What is good in ethics is a reflection of the ultimate good that is inherent in the nature of God himself - morality is a creation of god, it is a reflection of the nature of God Based on his goodness

Epicureanism

a balanced life lived in community with others and focuses on the pleasure of the mind

Practical Imperative

act in a way that you treat hummanity the same as an end and never as a mean. treat people with morals and value

The Free Will Defense

advocated by Augustine, more recently, by Alvin plantinga. in order for free will to exist, those possessing it must posses the ability to choose evil, as well as good God gave humanity free will, but God did not cause our evil choices, humans, not god are responsible for evil they choose to do

The Best possible World theodicy

advocated by Leibniz God would have created a world w/o evil, but it would be without intercession, compassion, heroism, and mercey God created a world in which both evil, and triumph over evil are possible because this kind of world is better than the alternative

Epicurus

advocated egoism, thinks everything that exists is composed of atoms. Doesn't believe in God, so ethics is all about the consequences of our choices --> thinks greatest value is benefitting physical intelligence in life in moderation/tranquility brings satisfaction and parties = bad - egoist, no afterlife, criteria should govern actions. Be good to your neighbor because one day might need them to be good to you

The greater Good defense

allowing evil can sometimes bring about greater good God allows specific instances of evil because He knows (although we cannot) that a greater good will result from them

consequentialist metaethics

any ethical theory that evaluates the morality of actions by examining the results

rule utilitarianism

apply greatest good for most people to rules of behavior rather than to specific acts. We should choose morals based on what does best for people differentiates from act Ut because it considers the consequences that result of following a RULE of conduct, where act Ut considers the results of a SINGLE ACT.

Ethics of care

appraoch that says that morality flows naturally form being in a caring relationship with your pt., it is a relationship that enables us to determine what is the right thing to do in moral dilemmas

Principlism

approach that seeks out objecive moral principles and then applies those principles to moral dilemmas to arrive to a conlcusion about what is right and wrong

list metaethics

approach to ethics seeks to find or create a list of actions that are moral and immoral --> taxes (owe more than payed so look for ways to pay) --> fault: we do not know for sure what is on the right/wrong list

platos ring of Gyges

are humans kind even when no one is watching

Reducto ad absurdium

argument against infividuals subjectivism. being employed --> showing some principle or idea -ex: if relativism is true, then moral progress is impossible - ex: if relativism is true, then all moral reformers (William Wilberforce, Martin Luther king etc) are immoral

viability

baby can live outside womb

Subjective

based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions

Etiquette

behavioral expectations of society - do what is expected or faux pas (split up) - etiquette --> cultural invention, morality --> discovery

conflates

blending 2 things together to make one new one --> hybrid of two old originals

autonomy

caregiver must not infringe upon a patients ability to make choices and perform actions concerning her own well being

Nonmaleficence

caregivers have the duty to avoid causing harm to others

beneficience

caregivers have the duty to do that which is the best interest of their patient

Intentional ethics

character of persons engaged in goal-seeking behavior (look up in book)

Virtue

character trait that inclines you to act and react in a moral way Strikes between two extremes (Golden mean) --> ex: courage: balance in between rashness and cowardice --> virtue ethics: you want to do right but cultures vary

egoist

choices are based on his/her interests

Forgetful Induction

considering only the evidence that supports your conclusion and ignoring (or conveniently forgetting) evidence that undermines your conclusion

embryo

developing baby up to 2 months - recognizing human - after that called a fetus

golden rule

do to others as you'd have them do to you

progressive revelation

early in the Bible, God reveals basic truths in a simple way, accommodating the communication of his message to the level and abilities of his audience

Applied ethics

ethics and morals, attempt to evaluate morality of specific actions (example: abortion)

zygote

fertilized egg prior to form embryo

Quickening

first time movement felt by Mom

Utilitarism

fit in America, democratic society because since childhood we are encouraged to think of good --> an act can be judged moral or immorally looking at it's consequences for everyone affected --> like egoism, examines result to follow action ------> differ in that Utilitarsm examines consiquences of everyone (How will this affect everyone?) think quality/quantity

Act Utilitarianism

focuses on individual actions (careful cost benefit analysis)

virtue ethics

focuses on the character of the person, rather than teh character of the action. (Virtues are character traits of people, not actions) actions are determined moral upon the character of the action rather than the consiquences of the action

posteriori

following from experience

Moral/Morals/Morality

former refers to beliefs about right and wrong that have been carefully thought about and thus are reasoned, intentional conclusions on the matter. -Intentional: deliberately, thought-out

Authorial Intent

goal to uncover origional message of the author

The problem of Specificity

how could we decide what segment of society morality is related to? - religion, community, ethnicity plays a role in your morals

analogous induction

if you're facing a situation and Bible has a parallel to that situation, conclude how to act based on what the bible says

Theodicy

is the response to the challenege of the problem of evil. offers reasons why it mayv be consistent for an omniscient, omnipotent, and omniobenevolent God to allow evil to exist

Double effect

killing someone in self-defense act must be morally good, person must intend for good consequences, good consequences must outweigh bad

ethical absolutism

leads to intolerance

categorical imperative

live by principles you wouldnt mind others living by (ex: it's okay if you dont get caught) - action is moral if leads to desired result - if you wouldnt want others doing it, don't do it

divine command theory

loving your neighbor is good because God says so. (God determines what is right/wrong) what is moral/immoral is what God says (nothing inherently wrong, just what God says)

Ethical theories (or metaethical theories)

moral absolutes that should rule our lives

Moral Subjectivism

moral judgements are completely subjective; no possible way to to be objective about morality. -> morality is matter of personal preferences (ex: taxes) the type of moral relativism that holds that moral judgements are intrinsically a matter of personal opinion or taste --> "if your don't want an abortion don't have one". ---> "you believe what you want, and I'll believe what I want"

moral realism

moral principles are an immaterial part of reality that exists even though they cannot be seen or felt

moral diversity argument

moral values differ from culture to culture, therefore there is no universal moral standard --> cultures may agree on big principles, but apply them differently (honoring, protecting life)

social contract theory

most influencial theory on the origin and nature of morality. our idea of what is moral is the result of an implicit agreement between the members of a society that facilitates the functioning of that society

gradualism

no one specific moment when personhood begins

objective

not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts

Deontological Ethics

poeple do things based on emotions

stawman

portraying a position in a way that makes it unfairly vulnerable to attack

priori

preceding experience. what kant is looking for

revelational Christian ethic

primary source is Bible --> multi-layered metaethic that involves careful careful interpretation and logical application and can adress any possible dilemma

exegesis

process of drawing out of a text its original meaning --> opposite would be Eisgesis

Eisegesis

process of reading ideas or an interpretation into a text instead of drawing out of the text authorial intent

extrinsic purpose

prupose is conferred on life by something else

intrinsic purpose

pupose would be inherent in itself

Death

read notes

positive right

right for something to be given to you (others must provide)

negative right

right to be left alone

duty ethics

rightness of an action is determined by considering obligations to apply universal standards and principles - problem: subject to interpretation

Hermeneutics

science of accurately interpreting difficult texts

ethical relativism

something right for one person is not right to another arguments against: - tolerance is itself a moral absolute, therefore if it is wrong to be intolerant, then at least one absolute must exist

Epistemology

study of knowing, it is the study of nature, means, validity, and limita of human cognition - beliefs accepting some idea as true - knowledge justified true belief (JTB) - opinion in belief that is not held very strongly

casuisrty

the approach that looks at past situations involving moral dilemmas and how they were handled in order to determine how we should handle presnt ones

Natural law ethics

the fundimental principles of ethical conduct are rationally discernible in human nature and nature of the world - It must be possible to decern from nature not only what is the case, but also what OUGHT to be the case

Metaethics

the study of the meaning and logical structure of moral beliefs - meta: behind

cultural relativism

the type of moral relativism that holds that morality is a cultural construct - can't say one culture is wrong bc they just do things differently (Nigeria vs America)

Moral Objectivism

the view that moral truths are matters of facts rather than opinion and therefore are not subjective

Moral Relativism

the view that there are no moral absolutes, but rather that morality legitimately varies from person to person or culture to culture

Moral Absolutism

the view that there are unchanging standards of morality that are independent of culture and human judgment

nontherapeautic abortion

those for convenience sake (most common reason)

therapeutic abortions

those necesarry for the health of the mother

altruism

urge to do something to benefit someone else without getting something in return

equivocation

use term in two different ways in an argument while making it look like you are using it in the same way throughout

Aristotle

virtue ethics (what is morally right and why) telos - not a cause but a purpose most humans want to achieve happiness purposefulness: fulfilling (telos), satisfied --> reason for living (people want purpose for life) --> here to become virtuous (how to we identify virtues) we will not be happy until we fulfil our telos, therefore to be happy we must cultivate our virtuousity; our fairness, self-control, courange etc but this theory does not provide an explanation on what being a virtuous person is, and doesnt provide an explanation of what make sthe virtues themselves good

grammatioical-historical-contextual hermeneutic

what language does the author use? phrases? idioms? historical context for time it was written (culture). contextual --> literacy context

ethical egosim

you ought to do whatever benefits you the most --> put yourself first. act can be judged as moral or immoral by looking at its consequences for the person performing the act (if it helps a person thrive = moral, if act causes detrimental consequences = immoral) - do X if you want to be happy read notes on "strengths of ethical egoism"