RED 5

• Teleological/Consequential Ethics


  · Greek telos, teleos which means “end” or “purpose”

  · stresses the end-result, goal or consequence of an act as determining factor of its rightness and wrongness
• Deontological Ethics


  · Greek deon, deontos which means discourse on duty or obligation

  · stresses duty as the norm of moral actions, hence it is also known as duty ethics

  · underscores the feature of the act or kind of the act itself rather than the balance of harm and good
• Ethical Relativism


  · also known as moral relativism

  · there are no universal or absolute moral principles

  · standards of right and wrong are always relative to a particular culture or society

  · the moral opinion of one individual is as good as any other
• Pragmatism


  The true and valid form of knowledge is one which is practical, workable, beneficial and useful
• Pragmatism produces practical results, can be put to work, benefits people, and can be used to attain results
• William James: '"Truth happens to an idea; it becomes true and is made true by events. Its verity is, in fact an event, a process: the process namely of its verifying itself, its verification."'
• The pragmatist's consideration of the practicality, usefulness, workability and beneficiality of the true and valid nature of knowledge can render a desperately needed service to bioethics by providing a means for settling moral disputes
• Utilitarianism


  · there is only one and one moral principle – the principle of utility

  · states that the rightness or wrongness of the action is determined by the goodness and badness of their consequences.

  · “Actions are good insofar as they tend to promote, bad as they tend to produce unhappiness.”
• Situation Ethics


  · Advocated by Joseph Fletcher, an American Protestant medical doctor and the author of Situation Ethics: The New Morality

  · The moral norm depends upon a given situation, but whatever the situation may be, one always act in the name of Christian love

  A situation in this context refers to a human condition or any state of moral affairs and issues that demands a moral action or decision
• Three Types of Love

  1) Erotic love – sexual love which normally relates a man to a woman

  2) Filial love – affection that binds a parent to his/ her child, a brother to his sister, etc.

  3) Agapeic love – one’s care and concern and concern towards others
• · For Fletcher, Christian love best exemplifies agape.

  · It is characterized by charity, respect and responsibility towards the other.

  · This is a kind of love by which an individual should act, should settle what is right and wrong, just and unjust in any complicated situation.
• Six Propositions of Situation Ethics

  • Only one thing is intrinsically good, namely love: nothing else
  • The ultimate norm of Christian decision is love: nothing else
  • Love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed
  • Love wills the neighbor's good whether we like him or not
  • Only the end justifies the mean: nothing else
  • Decisions should be made situationally, not prescriptively
• Situation ethics combines love and justice in treating patients, health care professionals and personnel should not only be fair to patients, they should also show loving concern for them
• Rule Ethics


  Appeals to a set of criteria, norms or rules to settle what is right and just, and ethical decision to make

  • Ten Commandments
• Act Ethics


  Determines the rightness and wrongness of the act by weighing the consequences of the act itself

  • Utilitarianism Situation ethics
• Principle of Stewardship


  Human life comes from God, we have the responsibility to protect and defend it, and the obligation to seek appropriate medical care to ensure its proper functioning
• Principle of Inviolability of Human Life


  Inalienable right to life, God has ultimate power on human life
• According to Catholic moral theology, the 'taking of life" may be justified in cases of self-defense and "just war", but the direct killing of an innocent person on one's own authority is always wrong
• Principle of Totality


  • “The whole is greater than any of its parts”
  • a part exists for the good of the whole and may be sacrificed when necessary to serve the proportionate good for the whole
  • the principle applies only when a part of the body jeopardizes the interest of the whole body
• The Principle of Totality justifies a series of surgical interventions done in daily clinical practice, specific operations do not in themselves present moral problems if surgical ablation involves a diseased organ
• Moral Principles of Totality

  • Any part of the body, healthy or diseased, may be sacrificed if such step is the only measure of safeguarding the health and life of the whole body
  • It is immoral to lessen the functional perfection and completeness of the body when such a measure is not required for the preservation of the health and life of the whole body
• The Principle of Totality does not apply to sacrificing the individual for the sake of society, taking of an organ from one person for transplantation into another, or destruction of the fetus to serve the interests of the mother
• Principle of Sexuality & Procreation


  • sexuality is embedded far deeper than satisfaction of human desire
  • sexuality is to be used based on God’s purpose and according to its natural end
• The principle of totality cannot justify the sacrifice of reproductive powers
• Principle of Double Effect


  There is a moral difference between the performance of a good act that has some good and some bad effects, and the performance of an evil act that will result in something good
• Four Conditions of Principle of Double Effect

  • The action must in itself be morally good or at least morally indifferent
  • The good effect of the action must not come from an evil effect but must come from the action itself directly
  • The good act must be willed, and the evil merely allowed
  • The good effect must be at least equivalent in importance to the evil effect
• Sin as a moral reality is an attitude, action or a failure to act, or the force that leads to evil.
• Ways sin separates/alienates the human person

  • True selves (intrapersonal)
  • Neighbors (interpersonal)
  • Larger community (societal)
  • God
• Real sin is not a "chance slip"; it has roots that involve the objective moral order and our fundamental moral stance
• Sin is never just a private, individualistic mistake, but always injures the community
• Structures of Sin


  • Personal Sin - committed by the individual person, but always in relation to others and the community
  • Structural Sin - economic, social or political patterns or systems that produce injustice and harm
  • Social Sin - common negative moral attitudes and acts
• Mortal sins

  • sins committed that destroy our human soul.
  • It is called mortal because it is considered deadly.
  • Examples: murder, fornication, suicide, and those that violates the Decalogue.
  • Mortal sins lead to spiritual death
• Grave sin


  A sin that is considered grievous because of the gravity of the harm inflicted on the person

  It can lead to mortal sin because it is self-destructive
• Examples of grave sins

  • Sexual Abuse (destroys one's dignity)
  • Physical Harm (domestic violence, crimes)
  • False Accusations (destroys one's dignity/reputation)
• Venial sins


  Ordinary sins that we usually commit
• Examples of venial sins

  • cheating
  • stealing
  • lying
  • backbiting
• Venial sins harm by undermining the fervor of a life of charity, hence, gradually leads to mortal sins
• Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation


  There is an inner link between rejecting God & rejecting ourselves. To overcome sin requires acknowledging that we are sinners, accepting that we are guilty not only before our conscience, but before God.
• The teaching of Jesus starts from a call to conversion (Mk 1:15)
• Metanoia


  Change of heart, implies total reconciliation, both personal and communitarian