Imagine a nurse entrusted with the critical responsibility of patient care succumbing to the temptation to steal medications. This scenario presents a profound ethical dilemma. How can we justify, if at all, such an act? Is there ever a morally acceptable reason for a nurse to take medications, whether for personal use or to help others outside of official protocols?
Drawing on an ethical theory from our course, please explore the moral dimensions of this issue. Consider the ramifications for patients, the healthcare organization for which the nurse works, and the nursing profession’s moral integrity as a whole.
In your response, clearly articulate your position, using the core principles of virtue ethics, Kantian ethics, or utilitarianism to support your view. (Select only one of these ethical systems to focus your response.) Aim for a thoughtful analysis that reflects deep engagement with the ethical complexities of this situation.
Category: PHL
Do you want leather or cloth seats,” asks the car salesperson. “Do you want your baby to have brown or blue eyes,” asks the doctor. Genetic engineering has reached a point where, much like choosing a feature on a car before buying it, we can select the features of our baby before its birth. Features like height, eye color, hair color, intelligence, likelihood of illness, and more can be or likely will be able to be selected in the near future. The question is, is it morally permissible to do so?
Discuss the moral implications of genetically engineering human babies. Respond to one of the following:
Does it cheapen and commodify human life when we select the features of a human person like we do when purchasing a car? Based on the core principles of either virtue ethics, Kantian ethics, or utilitarianism, explain why or why not. Is it morally different to use genetic engineering to lower the likelihood of illness such as diabetes, as opposed to using it to select an aesthetic feature such as eye color? Based on the core principles of either virtue ethics, Kantian ethics, or utilitarianism, explain why or why not. (USLOs 8.1, 8.2, 8.3)
Assuming genetic engineering remains expensive and only the wealthy can afford to engineer their children with more desirable features, such as greater intelligence and a lower likelihood of illness, is it morally permissible to allow genetic engineering? Based on the core principles of either virtue ethics, Kantian ethics, or utilitarianism, explain why or why not. Is it morally different to use genetic engineering to lower the likelihood of illness as opposed to using it to select increased intelligence? Based on the core principles of either virtue ethics, Kantian ethics, or utilitarianism, explain why or why not.
Discuss the moral implications of eating nonhuman animals. Respond to one of the following:
Is it morally permissible to raise and kill animals to eat them in our society, where nutritious alternatives to animal foods are readily available? If we were somewhere where there were inadequate non-animal foods, would that make a difference to the morality of using animals for food? Which ethical theory (utilitarian, virtue ethics, Kantian, etc.) based on its core principles is most consistent with your outlook on consuming animals? (USLOs 7.1, 7.2, 7.3)
Do animals have rights, and humans have a moral obligation to uphold those rights, or is it the case that animals do not have rights but that humans have a moral obligation not to treat animals cruelly? Explain your answer. Which ethical theory (utilitarian, virtue ethics, Kantian, etc.) based on its core principles is most consistent with your outlook on consuming animals? (USLOs 7.1, 7.2, 7.3)