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How to avoid the hard work of moral decision-making:

How to avoid the hard work of moral decision-making:. Stick with what you know… after all, other people with better minds have thought about these things. How to avoid the hard work of moral decision-making:. Think in bumper-stickers. It's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve.

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How to avoid the hard work of moral decision-making:

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  1. How to avoid the hard work of moral decision-making: • Stick with what you know…after all, other people with better minds have thought about these things.

  2. How to avoid the hard work of moral decision-making: • Think in bumper-stickers... • It's Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve. • People kill people. Guns don’t kill people.

  3. How to avoid the hard work of moral decision-making: • Rationalize... • Rationalize… • Rationalize…

  4. How to avoid the hard work of moral decision-making: • Practice morality by tummy-ache… • Passion above reason…

  5. How to avoid the hard work of moral decision-making: • Dogma above reason… • Antidote: Don’t believe everything you think!

  6. How to avoid the hard work of moral decision-making: • Relativism • Any moral opinion is as good as the rest....

  7. PHIL 2525Contemporary Moral IssuesLec 3 What are We Talking About? What is Morality? Rachels Chapter 1

  8. Singular Moral Judgments vs. Moral Principles...

  9. The Death of SocratesJacques-Louis David

  10. General moral principle…or not? • Hurting a friend is wrong. • The Bible says that thou shalt not kill. • Shoplifting might get you into trouble. • Stealing is ok. • Helping others helps ourselves. • Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. • Honour thy father and thy mother.

  11. General moral principle…or not? • Hurting a friend is wrong. • The Bible says that thou shalt not kill. • Shoplifting might get you into trouble. • Stealing is ok. • Helping others helps ourselves. • Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. • Honour thy father and thy mother. • Yes • No • No • Yes • No • Yes • Yes

  12. Conflicting principles...

  13. So, back to our arguments... • Premise 1 states the case (the way the world is) • Premise 2 appends a moral principle ------------------------------------------ • The conclusion follows from the interplay

  14. Moral arguments are arguments with a moral judgment as the conclusion • We describe the case: the way the world is • We append a moral principle ------------------------------------------ • We conclude based on the interplay

  15. 1.1 The Problem of Definition • “Moral philosophy is the attempt to achieve a systematic understanding of the nature of morality and what it requires of us… • Socrates: We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought to live

  16. 1.2 Baby Theresa.....Anencephaly

  17. 1.2 Baby Theresa dilemma... • Parental request: allow her organs to be harvested to benefit other newborns. • Legal resolution: "Florida law does not allow the removal of organs until the donor is dead."

  18. Moral arguments are arguments with a moral judgment as the conclusion The parents: • Transplanting Baby Theresa’s organs would benefit other children without harming her. • If we can benefit someone, without harming anyone else, we ought to do so. -------------------------------------- • Therefore, we ought to transplant the organs.

  19. Moral arguments are arguments with a moral judgment as the conclusion Anonymous ethicists: • Transplanting Baby Theresa’s organs would be using her as means for another’s ends. • It is wrong to use people as means. -------------------------------------- • Therefore, we ought not transplant the organs.

  20. Moral arguments are arguments with a moral judgment as the conclusion One more argument: • Taking Baby Theresa's organs would be killing her to save another. • It is wrong to kill one person to save another. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ • Therefore, we ought not to take her organs for transplantation.

  21. On the Baby Theresa dilemma... Dr. Norman Fost, director of the University of Wisconsin's medical ethics program: • “The problem is almost entirely one of a slippery slope...” • “We have to be careful who we take organs from, because there are a lot more than anencephalic infants out there.”

  22. On the Baby Theresa dilemma... Dr. John Fletcher, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Biomedical Ethics: • “There's a refusal to accept the reality of death at work in this... • “...and an overvitalistic understanding of personhood, one dependent on biological functions."

  23. On the Baby Theresa dilemma... Dr. John Fletcher, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Biomedical Ethics: • “...what makes us human is what goes on upstairs in the brain, not downstairs in the brain.”

  24. 1.3 Conjoined Twins • Siamese Twins • Chang and Eng • Born in 1811 • Travelled with the circus • Married two sisters • Fathered 21 children • Died in 1874

  25. 1:3 Jodie and Mary

  26. Jodie and Mary • Pro-separation: • Separating the twins will save the one; otherwise both will die. • When it's a choice between saving one of two people or letting both die, we should save the one. ---------------------------------------------------------- • :. The twins should be separated.

  27. Jodie and Mary • Anti-separation: • Mary is an innocent human being and the separation will kill her. • It's wrong to kill an innocent human being. ------------------------------------------- • :. The twins shouldn't be separated.

  28. 1.4 The Latimer Case

  29. Mercy or Murder? • 12 year old Tracy Latimer, killed by her father in 1993 • Quadriplegic and severely mentally disabled, she functioned at the level of a three-month old and was in constant pain…

  30. 1.4 The Latimer Case • Argument against Latimer’s action: • Killing Tracy was discrimination against the handicapped. • It is wrong to discriminate against the handicapped. -------------------------------------- • :. Tracy's father did wrong: he shouldn't have killed her.

  31. 1.4 The Latimer Case • Rachels’ response: • Discrimination against the handicapped? • It’s discrimination only if there is no good reason for the different treatment....

  32. 1.4 The Latimer Case • Euthanizing Tracy was "opening the doors to other people to decide who should live and who should die." • It is wrong to do things which would open the doors... • ------------------------------------------------------ • :. Euthanizing Tracy was wrong and shouldn't have been done.

  33. 1.5 Reason and Impartiality • Moral judgments must be backed by good reasons. • Morality requires the impartial consideration of each individual’s interests.

  34. 1.5 Reason and Impartiality • We describe the case: the way the world is • We append a moral principle ------------------------------------------ • We conclude based on the interplay

  35. Impartiality...and emotion...

  36. Impartiality...and emotion...

  37. Impartiality...and emotion...

  38. Impartiality...and emotion...

  39. The morally right thing to do... • is always whatever there are the best reasons for doing...

  40. Jane Addams,founder of Hull House • The essence of immorality is the tendency to make an exception of myself.

  41. 1.6 The Minimum Conception of Morality • The effort to guide one’s conduct by reason...to do what there are the best reasons for doing... James Rachels

  42. Suicide and Euthanasia • What is the difference? • What good reasons are there in favour? • What good reasons are there against? http://exitinternational.net/

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