ETHICS: FOUNDATIONS OF MORAL VALUATION

ACTIVITIES CHAPTER 8: SYNTHESIS: MAKING INFORMED DECISIONS (TH E

MORAL AGENTS AND CONTEXT)

Directions: Please do the activities below.

1. Why we must engage thyself in ethical thoughts and decision-making? Explain briefly.

 Because it forms our moral compass and how we connect with other people
It should be practically impossible to live without never reflecting on one's actions, and that is
what it means by "engage thyself in ethical thoughts". As for decision making, it has something
to do that will ultimately affect ourselves and those around us.

2. Kindly explain your thought about “Who one is”.

 The sense of one's character or personality-has been shaped by one's relationships as well as
the physical factors that affect how one thinks and feels. Being an actual person in the first place
is important and determining what or who is a person involves setting boundaries Being human
has been equated with being a person in the sense that being-in-itself is the only criteria.

3. Give your opinion about the flora and fauna.

 For me, flora and fauna make the environment more natural-looking. 'Flora and fauna', which is
directly translated to plants and animals, make the balance of the environment. I honestly think
that without them, the world we live in would not be the same.

Some examples of fauna are the flowering and non-flowering plants like grasses and trees. On
the other hand, examples of fauna are insects, fishes, and birds living on an area.

I honestly think that flora and fauna should be protected at all times. Like what I have mentioned,
flora and fauna make the balance in the environment. During old times, tigers and lions in the
forest protect the lands of our ancestors from colonials, while until now, the trees and plants in
the forest protect us from flooding and landslides. We, as students, should know the importance
of flora and fauna and at the same time, let us support campaigns that aims to care and protect
the environment.

4. Explain the relationship between Religion and Ethics also Culture and Ethics.

 When academics talk about ethics, they are typically referring to decisions about right and
wrong. While religion makes claims about cosmology, social behavior, and the “proper”
treatment of others, etc. Ethics are based on logic and reason rather than tradition or injunction.
 5. What are the Filipino ways that you have known? Make a list and explain and compare to
the present /modern Filipino way of culture.

 Acknowledge your counterpart’s education and English proficiency. Many Filipinos are fluent in
English. Avoid talking to them in overly simplified English as this may be interpreted as
patronizing.
 Showing respect is a core part of Filipino culture and is often demonstrated through speech.
Observe hierarchical relations determined by age and status.
 Compliment people’s efforts and hospitality. For Filipinos, hospitality is an essential component
of interaction and they will often go to extreme lengths to be hospitable to their company.
 Smile when meeting people. Filipinos are renowned for being joyful people who try to show
warmth where they can.

1. Examine your feelings or emotions regarding the issue of organ trafficking. Did you fe
el
sympathetic to the woman who was about to sell her kidney to her Saudi Arabian
?
husband Or were you morally repulsed by what she was planning to do? Apply Ramon
C. Reyes idea of the five cross-points that contribute to the formation of who you are’s
in order to understand your feelings about this particular moral issue. List below theo
elements that mak up each of your cross-points. e

a. Physical Cross-Point:

 We are member of the species homo sapiens and therefore possess the capacities and
limitations endemic to human beings everywhere which makes me conclude an idea of what
we called limitations and the capacities in each individual. The benefits that will be attained of
the husband on his new kidney will be a loss to the woman’s physical body and especially it will
greatly affect her health.

b. Interpersonal Cross-Point:

 As stated by Ramon C. Reyes about this cross point is that, the personality, character traits, and
overall way of doing things and thinking about things are affected by the people surrounding her:
siblings, relatives, classmates, playmates, and eventually workmates and also Who one is –in
the sense of one’s character of personality –has been shaped by one’s relationships as well as
the physical factors that affect how one thinks and feels. So therefore, I conclude that the
woman’s decision on selling her organ to his husband and neglecting any negative
circumstances in her part is greatly affected by her environment and personality.

c. Social Cross-Points:

 Society pertains to all the elements of the human groups that one
is a member of. Culture is included here <who one is= is molded in large part by the
kind of society and culture, which one did not choose that one belongs to. Therefore, I
conclude that through this social point an individual is shaped and mold in terms of her
way of perceptions and decisions which in the case of the women’s its either she will
accept it or not.

d. Historical Cross-Point:

 Is simply the events that one’s people has undergone. In

short, one’s people’s history shapes “who one is” right not. “Who one is” is also a
 project for one’s self. This happens because a human individual has freedom. This
freedom is not absolute: one does not become something because one chooses to be. If
one wants to fly, she cannot, unless she finds a way to help her fly. This finite freedom
means that one has the capacity to give herself a particular direction in life according to
her own ideal self. So even if it is your husband this is not a factor for you to neglect
your freedom and your ideal self just to pleasure what your husband needed especially
organ trafficking is a really an issue and a bad doing.

e. Existential Cross-Point:

 What one ought to do in one’s life is not dictated by one’s physical, interpersonal, social, or historical
conditions. One is always continuously being shaped by many factors outside of one’s own free will.
The human individual thus always exists in the tension between being conditioned by external
factors and being a free agent. By these concepts in this cross point, I conclude that the women
itself has his own will of coming up with this idea due the reasons of some factors which is the
relationship itself with his husband this is her own existence which not dictated by any physical,
social or historical condition opposing my answers in the previous cross point.

READ FIRST!!

Organ Trafficking and Human Needs

The many developments in the past few decades in both the life sciences and i n
biotechnology have given rise to the recognition of a host of ethical issues that are concerne d
with the physical survival and welfare of living creatures including, of course, human beings .
These ethical discussions have been gathered under the name of bioethics, a rapid ly
emerging field of applied ethics. Both medical ethics and animal ethics can actually b e
classified as subfields within the larger sphere of bioethics, while environmental ethics ca n
have a lot of concerns that are tied up with bioethics. Given that animal ethics, in the form of
the topic of animal rights, has already been covered in Chapter Il and environmental ethi cs
treated earlier in this chapter, let us now concentrate on medical ethics. This field focuses o n
moral issues in medical practice and research. One such issue that has given rise to muc h
debate is the phenomenon of organ trafficking, which is defined as the trade in human organ s
(whether from living or nonliving people) for the purpose of transplantation. The trade ca n
happen through the sale of organs or through any other means including coercive force. I n
2009, the Philippine government halted a planned kidney transplant from a Filipina wife to h er
Saudi Arabian husband. It was discovered that the couple had only been married for a sho rt
time and that the man did not know how to speak in English or Filipino, while the wife coul d
not speak Arabic-a situation that raised a lot of suspicion on the part of the authorities. Th e
government's allegation was that the planned transplant was not really an organ donatio n,
which Philippine law allows, but was, in actuality, a case of an organ sale, which i s
tantamount to organ trafficking prohibited by law. One possible reason for the woman' s
consent to this alleged deal is the widespread poverty among Filipinos. Although orga n
trafficking is patently illegal in the Philippines and in many other nations, it continues to be a
tempting possibility, especially for impoverished individuals, to earn some much-needed cas h.
Most people are born with two kidneys, and an individual can live on a single kidney .
Supposing that the transplant will be done under strict medical supervision, that there is a
shortage of available kidney donors, and setting aside the clear illegal status of orga n
trafficking, is it really wrong for a person in great financial need to sell one of her kidneys t o
someone who requires a transplant to survive and who is willing and able to offer a generou s
amount of cash.

A. This chapter identified and explained the steps in making informed decisions whe n
confronted with moral problems. The steps can be summarized as follows:

1. Determine your involvement in the moral situation.

 Morality is based on duty. When you do the right thing, it is not the outcome of the act that is
the measure of its morality, but rather your intent. An act is moral if it could become a
universal rule of society. On deciding the morality of an act, you must consider the
perspective of the doer and the recipient.

2. Gather all the necessary facts.

 In this situation there merely, facts that may involve in each side in Mrs. A’s situation it may
include her financial needs or things that she wants to get eagerly even if it involves selling
her kidney like vices, expensive things or anything related to financial problems. Because
selling a kidney is always have the involvement of money. The seller itself paying the
customer will also benefit to the kidney.

3. Identify the stakeholders.

 The Filipina wife and her Arabic Husband are the main stakeholder, others may involve like
friend and constituents especially her family in which may benefit them in terms of the money
itself given by the seller which may be the purpose of selling her kidney organ.

4. Name all the alternative choices possible and their potential effects on all stakeholders.

 Religion, Financial Involvement, Health and the Law. This is my alternative choices
possible that may involve in this situation. In Religion the Filipina Wife may contradict her
doings in related with her religion because selling organs of most religion is not tolerated.
 In terms of financial involvement, the family, constituent and the Filipina wife itself may
greatly benefit them because of the cash that been traded to her organ which contradicts of
her health because a part of her body or the kidney organ itself was removed which can
greatly affect her health negatively. The organ trafficker itself or the seller is the one that will
be punishable by the law in case there is an investigation that may happen.

5. Identify the type of ethical issue at hand.

In terms or doing right or doing wrong both side itself have an ethical issue which
include:
 ✓ The Selling her organ exchange for money
 ✓ reason why she sells her organ
 ✓ Financial necessity or needs in exchange for her organ
 ✓ Sellers paying the amount in exchange to the kidney
 ✓ Why the sellers implement this kind of doing?
 ✓ As to the family or constituent if there’s any, it is good that they benefited from
Mrs. A’s organ

6. Make your ethical conclusion or decision.

 As for assessing the situation through this process I conclude that this type of situation is
morally defensible because the seller itself pays the Mrs. A’s the amount she needed in
exchange for his organ which makes him in equal situation as for Mrs. A’s case I may not
know the reason yet why she sells her organs. I conclude that she does it with a very
important thing because she neglects of risk of having no kidney organ in exchange of
money due to the fact that no one can help her in that certain problem so she himself makes
her own way to surpass that kind of difficult situation. It may hard to accept but financial
problem is the one of the most reason why people sell their organ. So, we cannot blame the
likes of Mrs. A’s case because she only finds a way for her to be able to surpass the critical
problem that she involved to.

Apply now all six steps to the question, “Is selling one of my kidneys to a paying custom er
morally defensible?” Write down your application below:

1. Determine your involvement in the moral situation.

 Whatever my decision will be (based on my assessment), I will be comforted by the

fact that I thought and reflected this through without allowing my impulses and
instincts to control me. By doing this, I am able to continuously live my life without
looking back and regretting as to why I did not do the other option. So, for the last
step, I will move forward with no regrets. If my assessment tells me that I can still
stretch my chances of surviving and providing without having to sell my kidney,
then I will call the potential buyer and tell them that I am not selling my kidney.
Conversely, if the worst-case scenario happens – I have literally no chance of
sanely and healthily surviving and providing without the money – then I will call the
potential buyer and tell them that I will sell it.
 2. Gather all the necessary facts

What I Know
 I can survive with only one kidney.
 I know that I am in a great financial need.
 The buyer of my kidney offers a generous amount of cash.

What I Need to Know

 Although I know that I am in a great financial need, I need to know its sense of urgency. Do
I desperately need that huge amount of money that even working in some other jobs cannot
give me the same?
 In connection to the first one, don’t I have any other jobs where I can get money from?
 Are there people relying on me to provide for them?

3. Who are the stakeholders?

 Myself
 My dependents
 The buyer of the kidney

4. Name all the alternative choices possible and their potential effects on all stakeholders.

Stakeholders Stakes/Interests
Financial stability and improvement
Myself
Selfpreservation Happiness
Subsistence and sustenance Sustainable
My dependents (family and children)
survival Comfort and security
The buyer of the kidney Survival (life-and-death emergencies)

5. Identify the type of ethical issue at hand.

Sell my kidney
 Recognizing body autonomy and rights Sustaining myself and my dependents
Improving my mental health.
 Look for and exhaust other financial resources before deciding whether to sell or
not.
 Uplifting my physical (bodily functions) health Respecting my personal pride
Improving my mental health.
 Not sell it and permanently look for other jobs.
 Respecting my personal pride Uplifting my physical (bodily functions) health.

6. Make your ethical conclusion or decision.

 No person should ever be cornered to selling their kidney against their wishes
simply because they cannot provide for themselves. There should be a shift of
burden that we acknowledge as a society. It is time that we demand real
accountability and competent governance by creating and pushing structural
reforms and change that can address the widespread reality of the poor population
in the country. No one in their right minds would sell their kidneys just because, it
is always a product and result of being victims of circumstance. Imagine how bad a
situation can be that a person even considers selling their organ (a vital one, for
that matter) to survive. This just shows us how much we need to create inclusive
and open growth that can address and generate equal and fair opportunities to the
marginalized, underprivileged, and the poor. If it comes down to it, no one should
ever think about risking their lives in the long-run by creating comfort in the short-
run. We all need to live prosperously. We owe it to ourselves to make a difference
in others’ lives as well. Although we cannot shy away from the need for kidney
transfers for sick people, I firmly believe that it should not be done out of need and
forced will from poor people, but rather it should be done with complete consent,
acceptance, and kind intention of the people who are fully willing and open in
donating their kidney.