ETHICS

DR. LIONEL E. BUENAFLOR

Head-Social and Behavioural Sciences Department
Head-Batangas Heritage Center
University of Batangas
 The Foundations of Morality

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Moral Agent
• The morality of one’s action will be based on the
morality of the agent acting in a particular situation.
An action can be considered moral or immoral
depending on the decision of the person acting on it.
• There are also cases when a particular situation will
produce two results: one good and one evil. But not
to do any action on the said situation will also produce
an evil effect.
• This situation is what is called dilemma.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Moral Agent
• From the ethical viewpoint, dilemmas are
experiences where an agent is confused about the
right decision to make because there are several
competing values that are seemingly equally
important and urgent.
• How should a person handle a dilemma? How he
makes decision on a dilemma will become the basis
of how he is living his life.
• The study of ethics should not only be focused on a
mere acquisition of knowledge but on how to apply
such knowledge into his own everyday life.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Moral Agent
• A moral standard is that which deals with matters
that may seriously injure or may greatly benefit
human beings. If there are situations that will be
beneficial to more people, then the action will be
considered morally good.
• However, if it will cause greater pain, then it is
considered to be morally evil.
• Therefore, the validity of moral standards will be
based on the justification of one’s action. Hence, an
action is considered to be moral not because it is
accepted by the majority but on the goodness that
such action would entail to other people.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Moral Agent
• Nevertheless, accountability will depend on the
moral formation and the cultural beliefs and
practices that the person has.
• The basis of morality, therefore, is biased to one’s
cultural and moral behavior.
• Such cultural and moral behavior will affect one’s
decision as regards the practicality and the morality
of an act. However, practicality and morality do not
always go together.
• Let us consider an example:

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Moral Agent
• Nevertheless, accountability will depend on the
moral formation and the cultural beliefs and
practices that the person has.
• The basis of morality, therefore, is biased to one’s
cultural and moral behavior.
• Such cultural and moral behavior will affect one’s
decision as regards the practicality and the morality
of an act. However, practicality and morality do not
always go together.
• Let us consider an example:

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Baby Theresa (Rachels)
Theresa Ann Campo Pearson, an infant known
to the public as “Baby Theresa,” was born in Florida
in 1992. Baby Theresa had anencephaly, one of the
worst genetic disorders. Anencephalic infants are
sometimes referred to as “babies without brains,”
and this gives roughly the right picture, but it is not
quite accurate. Important parts of the brain—the
cerebrum and cerebellum—are missing, as is the top
of the skull. There is, however, a brain stem, and so
autonomic functions such as breathing and heart-
beat are possible.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Baby Theresa (Rachels)

In the United States, most cases of anencephaly

are detected during pregnancy, and the foetuses are
usually aborted. Of those not aborted, half are
stillborn. About 350 are born alive each year, and
they usually die within days.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Baby Theresa (Rachels)
Baby Theresa’s story is remarkable only because
her parents made an unusual request. Knowing that
their baby would die soon and could never be
conscious, Theresa’s parents volunteered her organs
for transplant. They thought her kidneys, liver,
heart, lungs, and eyes should go to other children
who could benefit from them. Her physicians
agreed. Thousands of infants need transplants each
year, and there are never enough organs available.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Baby Theresa (Rachels)

But the organs were not taken, because Florida law

forbids the removal of organs until the donor is
dead. By the time Baby Theresa died, nine days
later, it was too late for the other children—her
organs had deteriorated too much to be harvested
and transplanted.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Baby Theresa (Rachels)
Baby Theresa’s case was widely debated.
Should she have been killed so that her organs could
have been used to save other children? A number
of professional “ethicists”—people employed by
universities, hospitals, and law schools, who get paid
to think about such things—were asked by the press
to comment. Surprisingly, few of them agreed with
the parents and physicians. Instead, they appealed
to time-honoured philosophical principles to oppose
taking the organs.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Baby Theresa (Rachels)

“It just seems too horrifying to use people as means

to other people’s ends,” said one such expert.
Another explained: “It’s unethical to kill person A to
save person B.” And a third added: “What the
parents are really asking for is, Kill this dying baby so
that its organs may be used for someone else. Well,
that’s really a horrendous proposition.”

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Baby Theresa (Rachels)

Is it horrendous? Opinions were divided. These

ethicists thought so, while the parents and doctors
did not.
What reasons or arguments can be given for
each side. What can be said to justify the parents’
request or to justify thinking the request was
wrong?

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 Classroom Discussion:

State your view on the issue of Baby

Theresa.

Is it moral to donate the organs of Baby

Theresa? Why or why not?

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Jodie and Mary

In August 2000, a young woman from Gozo, an

island south of Italy, discovered that she was
carrying conjoined twins. Knowing that health-care
facilities in Gozo were inadequate to deal with the
complications of such a birth, she and her husband
went to St. Mary’s Hospital in Manchester, England,
to have the babies delivered.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Jodie and Mary

The infants, known as Mary and Jodie, were

joined at the lower abdomen. Their spines were
fused, and they had one heart and one pair of lungs
between them. Jodie, the stronger one, was
providing blood for her sister.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Jodie and Mary

The infants, known as Mary and Jodie, were

joined at the lower abdomen. Their spines were
fused, and they had one heart and one pair of lungs
between them. Jodie, the stronger one, was
providing blood for her sister.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Jodie and Mary

No one knows how many sets of conjoined twins

are born each year, but the number has been
estimated at 200. Most die shortly after birth, but
some conjoined twins do well. They grow to
adulthood and marry and have children themselves.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Jodie and Mary

But the outlook for Mary and Jodie was grim.

The doctors said that without intervention, the girls
would die within six months. The only hope was an
operation to separate them. This would save Jodie,
but Mary would die immediately.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Jodie and Mary

The parents, who were devout Catholics, refused

permission for the operation on the grounds that it
would hasten Mary’s death. “We believe that
nature should take its course,” they said.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Jodie and Mary

“If it’s God’s will that both our children should

not survive, then so be it.” the hospital, hoping to
save at least one of the infants, petitioned the courts
for permission to separate them over the parents’
objections. The courts granted permission, and the
operation was performed. As expected, Jodie lived
and Mary died.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Jodie and Mary

In thinking about this case, we should distinguish

he question of who should make the decision from
the question of what the decision should be. You
might think, for example, that the decision should
be left to the parents, in which case you will object
to the court’s intrusion.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Jodie and Mary

But there remains the separate question of what

would be the wisest choice for the parents (or
anyone else) to make. We will focus on the
question: would it be right or wrong, in these
circumstances, to separate the twins?

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 Classroom Discussion:

Is it moral to separate the twins? Why or

why not?

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Tracy Latimer

Tracy Latimer, a 12-year old victim of cerebral

palsy, was killed by her father in 1993. Tracy lived
with her family on a prairie farm in Canada. One
Sunday morning, while his wife and other
children were at church, Robert Latimer put Tracy
in the cab of his pickup truck and piped in
exhaust fumes until she died.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Tracy Latimer

At the time of her death, Tracy weighed less

than 40 pounds, and she was described as
“functioning at the mental level of a three-
m0nth-old baby.” Mrs. Latimer said that she was
relieved to find Tracy dead when she arrived
home and added that she “didn’t have the
courage” to do it herself.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Tracy Latimer

Robert Latimer was tried for murder, but the

judge and jury did not want to treat him harshly.
The jury found him guilty of only second-degree
murder and recommended that the judge ignore
the mandatory 10-year sentence. The judge
agreed and sentenced him to one year in prison,
followed by a year of confinement to his farm.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Tracy Latimer

But the Supreme Court of Canada stepped in

and ruled that the mandatory sentence must be
imposed. Robert Latimer entered prison in 2001
and was paroled in 2008.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Tracy Latimer

Legal question aside, did Mr. Latimer do

anything wrong? This case involves many of the
issues that we saw in the other cases.
One argument against Mr. Latimer is that
Tracy’s life was morally precious, and so he had
no right to kill her.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 The Case of Tracy Latimer

In his defense, it may be said that Tracy’s

condition was so catastrophic that she had no
prospects of a “life” in any but a biological sense.
Her existence had been reduced to pointless
suffering, and so killing her was an act of mercy.

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 Classroom Discussion:

Do you think the action of Robert Latimer

of killing Tracy can be given a moral
justification? Why or why not?

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor