Session 1

Philosophy, Morality and Ethics

Looking at ethics

Ethical issues moral dilemmas, legal and policy issues – allocation of resources; PAS, etc values and principles fundamental to ethical practice Ethical concepts ETHICS philosophical efforts to identify relevant moral criteria Ethical theories

Introduction

    Philosophy  concerned with the nature and validity of each major aspect of human existence Morality  concerned with standards of right or wrong behaviour Morals  what is considered right or wrong behaviour based on social custom Ethics    concerned with the moral dimension of human life/evaluating human action what is right or wrong based on reason reflective and critical

Introduction

   Metaethics   investigates where our ethical principles come from, and what they mean focuses on issues like universal truths,the role of reason in ethical judgments, and the meaning of ical terms.

Normative Ethics   concerned with how do we arrive at moral standards that regulate right or wrong conduct normative theories provide moral guidelines Applied Ethics   examines specific issues such as abortion, ethuanasia attempt to resolve these issues based on foundations provided by metaethics and normative ethics

Morality

Morality: carries the concepts of:  moral standards, with regard to behaviour;  moral responsibility, referring to our conscience; and 

Personal morality

values and duties adopted by an individual

Societal morality Group morality

values and duties that apply to an organisation or profession

Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivism

    Do morality and ethical rules exist independently of humans or are they human conventions?

Views on the validity of moral beliefs:  moral relativism - the view that ethical standards, morality, and positions of right or wrong are culturally based and therefore subject to a person's individual choice; we can all decide what is right for ourselves  moral objectivism – the view that moral beliefs are capable of being objectively valid; capable of being true or false/rational or irrational Moral pluralism  the existence of many different moral viewpoints (does not imply moral relativism) – e.g. abortion English legal doctrine and moral values

Ethics

 What does the word ethics mean to you?

 What is ethics about?

 What ethical issues do you think you might come across in your practice?

 What are values?

 Where do values come from?

Reflective activity

 what is the source of moral values?

 when and how did you become aware of their existence  think of some situation when your values were challenged – how did you feel?

 why is being aware of your value system important in your work?

Values

     ideals, beliefs, customs, characteristics considered valuable and worthwhile by an individual, a particular group or society in general influence behaviour, help make choices and decisions personal values - beliefs or attitudes about what is good, right, desirable, worthwhile, etc values may refer to how one should act (for example, to be honest, self-disciplined, caring, etc). or to what one wants to accomplish or obtain in life (for example, wealth, security, fame, health, etc) acquired in different ways, in a conscious (or subconscious) way through:   family, friends, teachers, those whom we admire, etc work environment, colleagues, role-models (tutors) and promoted through professional codes of ethics, etc. – professional values

Values

    personal value system - the ways a person organises, ranks, prioritises and make decisions based on his/her values - provide the foundation from which a person makes personal and professional judgments and choices values exist as a complex heirarchy of interweaving personal policies or priorities that serve as a guide for decision-making a person’s particular set of values are likely to have developed over a long period of time and will develop and change throughout life value system will be influenced/shaped by many factors such as:   family life religious upbringing    cultural and ethnic background educational and environmental experiences political views

Law and morality

law

– what not to do; morals – what should do

 natural law theorists   argue that the law should reflect morality ‘higher’ law that sets out the basic moral code  utilitarian approach   crimes without victims should not really be crimes at all crimes that only do harm to the ‘criminal’ should be decriminalised

Law and morality

  Hart/Devlin debate  whether the law should reflect morality discussed in the 1950s by two members of a commission set up to look at the possible reform on the laws relating to prostitution and homosexuality Wolfenden Report    recommended that prostitution and homosexuality be decriminalised with restrictions law should not intervene in private matters of individuals ‘harm to others’ principle applied (JS Mill) 

Hart/Devlin debate

  Lord Devlin (an eminent judge)    opposed to the findings of the report favoured a less liberal approach and argued that there should be some whether or not something was immoral and therefore should be illegal was the test of the standard of the right-minded person form of basic common morality Hart (an academic)   in favour of them criminalising ‘immoral’ behaviour was unnecessary, undesirable and in itself immoral 

Law and morality

 The Warnock Committee – conception, embryology and pregnancy  committee was established to report on the new developments in medical technology relating to reproduction following advances such as in vitro fertilisation  issues considered include the use of embryos for medical research, payments for surrogacy, sperm and egg donation  morals are not absolute  there can be different views of morality

Law and morality

 In 1994, the House of Lords upheld conviction of consenting adults engaging in sadomasochistic activities in the case of R v Brown [1994] 1 AC 212  convicted even though no one had complained – the police had happened upon the party by chance  European Court of Human Rights subsequently approved the conviction  that the fact that people consent and there is no harm done is not enough – there is some basic standard of morality in operation here

Ethics and Terminology

     Ethical rules – statements about ethical behaviour Ethical codes – compilation of ethical rules Ethical standards – similar to rules but suggests model behaviour Ethical principles – broader than rules or codes; foundation for rules and codes and offer guidance on decision-making Ethical theory – general ways of determining what is right or wrong; science of ethical decision-making

Ethical theories

    numerous theories proposed by philosophers and ethical theorists – not necessarily mutually exclusive teleological and deontological are the predominant approaches typically classified into categories based on criteria used to decide whether the behaviour is right or wrong:    action-based - duty, consequences, rights, etc.

actor-based – virtues, intuition, etc.

situation-based – case-based, ethics of care, etc.

theories may be used to derive helpful guidelines for thinking about ethical behaviour

Common ethical (moral) theories

 Teleology actions are ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ according to the balance of their good or bad consequences  utilitarianism is a teleological theory that judges acts based on their utility or usefulness  Deontology - actions are performed out of duty or moral obligation; every person is an end and not solely a means to another person’s end.

 Virtue theory - places value on the moral character of the actor rather than acts or outcomes of acts

Consequentialism and Utilitarianism

 Teleology (consequentialism)  teleology comes from the Greek word

telos

, meaning purpose or end  more commonly known as consequentialism  for consequentialists, whether an action is morally right or wrong depends on the action's consequences  in any situation, the morally right thing to do is whatever will have the best consequences  question arises as to what kind of consequences - i.e. needs to be combined with a theory about what the best consequences are

Utilitarianism

  Utilitarianism – a consequentialist theory  ‘utility’ is a term used to refer to the degree to which an action produces good/avoids evil    actions are right if they maximise happiness/pleasure and minimise unhappiness/pain; or, that actions are right if they have the greatest utility basis of utilitarianism is to ask what has intrinsic value (value in itself) and then assess the consequences of an action in terms of intrinsically valuable things utilitarianism has had considerable influence upon legislation 'Founders' of Utilitarianism - Jeremy Bentham (1748 1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

Utilitarianism

 The ‘Greatest Happiness Principle’   "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.“ (J S Mill) an action is judged by the total amount of happiness and unhappiness it creates with regard to everyone affected by the action – ethical hedonism   broader understanding of good/evil is that which makes our lives worth living/that which detracts from the overall values of our lives when all the people who might be affected by an action are considered, that action is right if it promotes more happiness than unhappiness

Act and Rule Utilitarianism



act utilitarian approach

– emphasis on outcomes or consequences of specific act 

rule utilitarian approach

– follow a rule consistently and not bend it to fit a particular situation

Duty Theories

 Duty Theories (Deontological Theories)  morality is based on specific foundational principles of duty that are absolute, obligatory, and irrespective of the consequences that might follow our actions.

Deontology

 Deontology - from the Greek word

deon

meaning duty  according to deontologists:  there are acts we have the duty to perform because these acts are good in themselves (i.e. intrinsically good)  we have a duty to refrain from acts that are intrinsically bad or wrong   consequences are irrelevant to determining what is moral or not rule deontology – rules we can know which tell one what is right and what is wrong (e.g. 10 Commandments; the Golden Rule)

Kantanism – duty based

 Immanuel Kant (1724 –1804) - most influential deontologist  introduced a secular moral law (a method for deciding moral duty/duties), known as his categorical imperative – his ‘key rule’  based on the human capacity for reason or rational thought – all humans are rational beings capable of knowing the categorical imperative and of applying it to various situations  moral duty could be determined by the use of reason about the act in question

The

categorical imperative

  Two versions: First version: "

Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law

."  i.e. ‘ unless you are able to say that everyone must act like this, then you should not act like it’   something is morally right (or wrong) only if it commands or compels obedience and is binding on all persons equally it would be inconsistent and irrational to decide, for example, that you could steal from others, but they could not steal from you - thus, reason demands that we do not steal unless everyone should steal

The

categorical imperative

 Second version: "

Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end

.“  people must be treated as ends in themselves and not as a means to an end  i.e. there are certain ways we must not treat people no matter how much utility might be produced by treating them in those ways e. g. don’t lie to a patient  influential in medical ethics as it can be translated as it is necessary to treat people as autonomous agents capable of making their own decision

Deontology and duties

  Kant’s perfect and imperfect duties:  

Perfect Duties

are those for which there are no exceptions, for example, the duty not to kill an innocent person, duty not to lie, duty to keep promises. It is intrinsically wrong to do the opposite of these, no matter how beneficial the consequences

Imperfect Duties

are those for which exceptions are allowed but actions due to these duties can never be at the expense of perfect duties Kant also distinguishes between acting in accordance with duty (but for the wrong reasons) and acting from a proper sense of duty. It is important to chose an action because it is one’s duty not simply to be consistent with duty

Ross' Deontological Theory

    Pluralist deontologists affirm more than one basic rule or principle W D Ross’s theory (greatly influenced the ‘four principles’ approach to medical ethics) is based on ethical conflict, or conflict of duty unlike many other duty-based theories, he gives considerable weight to consequences distinguishes duties as ‘

prima facie

’ or ‘

actual

’ duties:   prima facie duty - a duty that is always to be performed unless it conflicts with an equal or stronger duty actual duty - the prima facie duty that has a stronger weight in case of conflict  we know our duties in particular situations just on the basis of our moral beliefs and conventions

Ross' Duties

 Ross' Duties:  

fidelity

– duty to keep promises, honour contracts and agreements, tell the truth

gratitude

– duty to repay previous acts of others who benefited you 

beneficence

persons - duty to make things better for other   

non-maleficence

- duty not to make other persons worse off

justice

- duty to distribute pleasure or happiness (or the means thereto) in accordance with the merit of persons concerned

self-improvement

condition duty to improve one’s own

Rights-based ethical theory

 Natural Rights Theory proposed by John Locke (1632-1704)       everyone has rights that arise form our very existence as human beings rights (to life, health, liberty, possessions) are natural rights, given to us from God these rights are natural (not invented by humans), universal (not dependent on culture), equal (for all people), and inalienable (cannot be given them up) rights are entitlements that prevent others from interfering in one’s life Locke’s theory was influential to the US Declaration of Independence (1776*) and the French Revolution (1789) and is the foundation of many modern democracies theory can be seen as being opposite to utilitarianism in its support of the individual rather in preference to the state

Virtue Theory

 Virtue ethics represents the oldest normative theory and is based in ancient Greek civilization  focuses on the development of character rather on specific acts:  moral conduct requires more than an action and an outcome; it requires an agent or actor  a virtue is a trait of character that is socially valued and a moral virtue is a trait that is morally valued

Virtue Theory

Plato – four cardinal virtues:

wisdom; courage; temperance; justice

- other important virtues include:

fortitude; generosity; self-respect; good temper; sincerity

.

 we should strive to acquire good habits of character and avoid bad character traits Aristotle - (384 – 322 B.C) Nichomachean Ethics - concerned with the question of character    moral character and moral achievement are functions of education, self-cultivation, and habituation.

whereas, obligations play a more central role in other theories character – Aristotelian theory turns on motive, effort, commitment, action from virtue, and the development of a virtue is something practised and learned – becomes habit – people can be taught to be virtuous Theological virtues : faith; hope; charity supplement Greek virtues

Virtues – what do we expect from a pharmacist?

Virtues – some examples

courage wisdom integrity truthfulness etc, etc