Discussion: ETHC 445 Utilitarianism and Care Based Ethics
Discussion: ETHC 445 Utilitarianism and Care Based Ethics
Discussion: ETHC 445 Utilitarianism and Care Based Ethics
ETHC445
Principles of Ethics
Week 5
Discussion
UTILITARIANISM AND CARE BASED ETHICS
There are three basic propositions in
standard Utilitarianism (Please be sure to listen to Mill’s audio lecture
before joining this threaded discussion):
Actions are judged right and wrong solely
on their consequences; that is, nothing else matters except the consequence,
and right actions are simply those with the best consequences.
To assess consequences, the only thing that
matters is the amount of happiness and unhappiness caused; that is, there is
only one criterion and everything else is irrelevant.
In calculating happiness and unhappiness
caused, nobody’s happiness counts any more than anybody else’s; that is,
everybody’s welfare is equally important and the majority rules.
In specific cases where justice and utility
are in conflict, it may seem expedient to serve the greater happiness through
quick action that overrules consideration for justice. There is a side to
happiness that can call for rushed decisions and actions that put
decision-makers under the pressure of expediency.
Here is a dilemma for our class:
GET PAPER HELP. PLACE AN ORDER FOR A CUSTOM-WRITTEN, PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER Discussion: ETHC 445 Utilitarianism and Care Based Ethics
You are the elected district attorney. You
receive a phone call from a nursing home administrator who was a good friend of
yours in college. She has a waiting list of 3,000 people who will die if they
don’t get into her nursing home facility within the next 3 weeks, and she
currently has 400 patients who have asked (or their families have asked on
their behalf) for the famous Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s (fictitious) sister, Dr. Jill
Kevorkian, for assistance in helping them die. The 3,000 people on the waiting
list want to live. She (the nursing home administrator) wants to know if you
would agree to “look the other way” if she let in Dr. Jill to assist
in the suicide of the 400 patients who have requested it, thus allowing at least
400 of the 3,000 on the waiting list in.
How would we use Utilitarianism to
“solve” this dilemma?
How would we use cars-based ethics to
“solve” this dilemma?
What ethics did your friend, the nursing
home administrator, use in deciding to call you?
What ethics are you using if you just
“look the other way” and let it happen?