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Applied Ethics - Coggle Diagram
Applied Ethics
THEFT
NATURAL MORAL LAW:
- Primary precept of living in an ordered society is broken since it leads to disorder.
- Therefore goes against secondary precept not steal
- Goes against 10 commandments and divine command theory
- Aquinas made an exception or a starving man and considers it would be lawful to steal from someone who has enough themselves
- value= preserves life, disvalue= injustice (cardinal virtue)
- Proportionalism- allowed in a life saving context (saving a life equivalent to stealing)
SITUATION ETHICS:
- interests of people take priority over rules
- the motive must be right
- consider the consequences- are they negative?
- you cannot be just through theft
- Agapeic love should be shown- you shouldn't only be concerned with yourself, but causing love for others too
- Love of neighbours has to be shown [MARK 12:31]
- Fletcher says love and justice are the same , and theft isnt just as it deprives others e.g other students from accessing the textbook who need it
VIRTUE ETHICS:
- Focused on character development over a persons lifetime
- acting virtuously in every situation
- there is no way you can commit crime well or not well so its a base action that is always wrong
- theft to save a starving man could be described as distributing justice because there is good intention and its redistributing from someone who already has enough
LYING
NATURAL MORAL LAW:
- Breaches primary precept to live in an ordered society
- secondary precept broken to not tell lies
- Goes against aquinas' virtue of courage and justice
- Lying is wrong as it fails to represent what is on ones mind- he says its "unnatural", "undue" (summa Theologica)
- lying even to save a life is wrong but viewed 'prudently keeping back the truth' as morally permissible
- proportionality agrees that lying is morally wrong however there are some good exceptions:
- a necessary lie to prevent someone from harm as the value of saving a life would be proportionally greater than the disvalue of injustice to the person telling a lie
SITUATION ETHICS:
- Lying and withholding the truth is acceptable if it is the most loving thing to do
- An agapeic calculus should consider the risk and the amount of love
- if agapeic calculus showed that love would be best served by withholding info, then telling a white lie would be positively good
- Fletcher insists there is o intrinsic right or wrong with regard to lying
- the rightfulness or wrongfulness of an action Is considered based on the situation
- the absolute in every situation is to affirm christian love
VIRTUE ETHICS: - virtues honesty and truthfulness forbid lying
- it is courages to tell the truth and be honest
- lying causes issues with social interactions and you dont come across as yourself when socialising with others, instead you create a false image
- the intention needs to be considered- is it virtuous
- the virtues work together to form synergy which means the individuals virtues work together to form something greater than the power of each virtue working on its own
- truthfulness itself is a synergy of different virtues
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
NATURAL MORAL LAW:
- aquinas regarded it as legitimate if it carried out b the state
- it would become revenge if left to individuals to perform it
- it supports the idea of living in an ordered society
- it upholds the cardinal virtue of justice as it fulfils the aim of retribution
- the Catholic Church, pope Joh Paul ii and pope Francis all oppose it
- Jesus said to forgive (JOHN 8)
SITUATION ETHICS:
- it depends on the situation there is no set view
- disagreements based on whether Jesus was a pacifist which would affect their view on capital punishment
- different views on whether capital punishment brutalises society or the aim od it (retribution or deterence)
- fletcher argues there is no rules to compel you to respond one way or another so you have to decide for yourself as to what love demands in the situation
VIRTUE ETHICS:
- capital punishemnt not an issue for Aristotle- was the norm regarding punishment in athenian society
- justice is about restoring the distriubuton of gain and loss between 2 people
- in this respect when one person murders another, the balance still has to be rectified which would permit capital punishment
- we are responsible for everything we intent so if a murder occurs for vicious reasons, this is a matter of justice and requires restoration which requires capital punishment
- a person with practical wisdom behaves and obeys the law
EMBRYO RESEARCH, DESIGNER BABIES, AND CLONING
NATURAL MORAL LAW:
- Aquinas rejects both embryo research and cloning as they abandon usual methods of procreation through marital sex
- these are a failure to worship god who is the soul creator of life
- 'scientific procedures' could lead to a breakdown of society through marriage breakdowns
- experimenting on embryos viewed as murder
- double effect cannot be applied to therapeutic cloning as you cannot commit a bad act to achieve a good result
- human life is created imago dei (GENESIS 1:27)
- so human life is not something to be tampered with
- to design babies so that he image of the human race is eventually changed violates gods intentions
- the 'image of god' will n longer be seen in human form
- goes agains the precept of ordered society as it would leave an even bigger gap between the rich and the poor as designer babies expensive
SITUATION ETHICS:
- not opposed to any off these procedures as according to fletcher, humans are makers, selectors and designers long as adequate controls are put in place
- fletcher would favour making and using man machine hybrids than genetically designed people for dull of dangerous roles
- fletcher directs the love towards the person who will benefit from the embryo research, cloning and designer babies rather than the clone itself
- good fo r actual persons is more imports than the good for potential persons
VIRTUE ETHICS:
- The key virtue referred to is compassion which likely focuses on those who's well being is destroyed by disease
- how can we tell the character traits of designer babies
ABORTION
NATURAL MORAL LAW:
- Aquinas held that a human with a rational soul is present 60-80 days after conception" death...of the animated foetus, he will not be excused from homicide"
- violates the principle of preserving life and worshipping god( as god is the creator of life)
- Catholic Church reinforces the approach od nil by forbidding abortion at any stage for any reason except by the means of double effect
- supported by sanctity of life principle based on genesis- every human life is sacred because they were created in gods image
SITUATION ETHICS:
- depends on the situation there is no set view
- Agapeic calculation is needed relating to the situation
- what are the risks
VIRTUE ETHICS: - should take place before there are signs of an individual human having been established
- better to aport a potential baby rather than an actual baby
- if the parents have too many children it is acceptable
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