ETHICAL SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS

• Teleological ethics (Consequence-

oriented) (Greek telos, “end or
purpose”)
• Act Ethics determines rightness
and wrongness by weighing the
consequences of the act itself

• Deontological (Duty-oriented)
(Greek deon, deontos, discourse
or obligation
• Rule ethics appeals to a set of
criteria, norms or rules to settle
what is right and just and ethical
decision to make
 Situation
Ethics

Christian Immanuel
Ethics Kant

Rule
Ethics
 Ethical
Relativism

Act Situation
Pragmatism
Ethics Ethics

Utilitarianism
 1.Rule Ethics

Christian Ethics
Deals with the
morality of human based on
acts as good and reason, divine for the human
therefore to be revelation, person to attain
performed or as Scriptures, his/her ultimate
evil and therefore Christian values end, that is,
to be avoided and principles God.
 Knowledge

human acts
insofar as they
are performed
Freedom
with
intellectual
deliberation
and freedom.
Voluntariness
 Christian Moral Principles
Principle of Double Effect
4 conditions:
1.The action itself must be
morally good or at least
indifferent;
2.The good effect must
precede the evil effect or
at least simultaneous with
it;
3. The intention of the
agent should be directed
towards the good effect,
never to the evil effect;
4. Proportionality: the
good effect must be more
important than or at least
equal to the bad effect
 2. Situation Ethics

Moral norm depends upon a given

situation, but whatever this
situation may be, one must
always act in the name of
Christian love.
To abort or not to abort a fetus conceived by
accident rather than by design?

Inject a lethal drug into a terminally ill patient as

his/her own request in order to relieve him/her
completely from terrible pain or suffering?
6 Propositions as fundamentals of
Christian conscience

The ultimate norm Love and justice

Only one thing is
of Christian are the same,
intrinsically good,
decisions is love: for justice is
namely love:
nothing else love
nothing else
distributed

Love wills the Only the end Decisions ought to

neighbor’s good justifies the be made
whether we like him means: nothing situationally, not
or not else prescriptively
In the Medical context
1. Health care
professionals and
personnel should
show loving care
and concern for
the patients-
walang palakasan
2. Situation ethics makes moral
decisions flexible and adaptable
to varying situations
3. What makes an act good is
whether it is expedient, edifying,
constructive and humane
 Difficulties
1. Contextualism
may encourage
ethical relativism,
e.g. justify
contraceptive
pills to preserve
vital statistics
2. It may serve to
legitimize personal
interest and ulterior
motives, e.g medical use
& abuse under pretext of
agapeic expediency
3. Situation ethics
does not
guarantee an
objective and
impartial
judgement, e.g.
mercy killing in the
name of love
every person has an Respect is shown by
inherent dignity and on never using people to
that basis alone is achieve other goals
entitled to respect or consequences
Immanuel Kant
Categorical
Imperative
duties and rights of the right thing is always
individuals help to to be guided by moral
distinguish how their duties, responsibilities
respect can be honored and rights
 Some actions are intrinsically
immoral, no matter how positive and
beneficial one might judge the
consequences to be

Other actions are intrinsically moral,

no matter how negative the
consequences might be

One cannot judge the moral rightness or

wrongness of an act on the basis of its
consequences alone
There are
no
Standards of
universal
right and
or
wrong are No objective
absolute
always basis that a
moral
relative to a particular
standards.
particular action is right
culture/ or wrong
society apart from a
specific social
group
 Africans – killing
twins at birth,
offering the virgins
Arctic Eskimo-
abandoning old
people Eskimos-
Every culture has hospitality with
its own norm of guests
moral actions
Igorots – trial
Israelites – marry
marriage
brother’s widow
Some Americans-
live-in
Ethical relativism
contradicts ER is self-
common beliefs contradictory
and ordinary and inconsistent
experiences

Criticisms &
Objections
 In the medical context
Conflict between scientific medical
procedures and certain religious
aspects of ethical relativism
E.g. Jehovah’s Witnesses’ refusal for
blood transfusion
Should the doctor simply allow the
patient to die?
 Is the patient’s
refusal a form of
passive euthanasia?
Is the saving of
human life, under
these
circumstances,
morally wrong?
 Ethical
Relativism

Act Situation
Ethics Ethics

Utilitarianism
 practical

Pragmatism
holds that the
useful true and valid workable
form of
knowledge is :

beneficial
Truth is made by
events or
happenings
Examples:
a) Is it true that “sprite
tastes good”?
b) Are the drugs in
research therapeutic
or non-therapeutic?
Testing is required
c) Which contraceptive method is the
most effective and reliable one?
Survey may be conducted among
contraceptive users
d) Should the patient be told
about the nature of his/her
serious illness? Would it be
more practical to withhold the
information for the patient’s
own good?
On abortion: would it be
more humane & beneficial
for a grossly deformed
fetus to be aborted now
than to let it see the light
of day only to suffer and
live a life of unbearable
misery?
1. Pragmatism is
accused of being
too materialistic
because of a
pragmatic claim
that truth is the
cash value of an
idea
2. Pragmatism is also
accused of being too
individualistic
3. Pragmatism does not give
us the technique or means
by which to weigh the
possible effects. This may
lead to a capricious or self-
serving judgment, hence
subjectivistic.
 Ethical
Relativism

Situation
Pragmatism Act
Ethics
Ethics

Utilitarianism
 Utilitarianism
The rightness and
wrongness of actions is
determined by the
goodness and badness
of their consequences
 John Stuart Mill
(1806-1873): Actions
are good insofar as
they tend to promote
happiness, bad as they
tend to produce
unhappiness
 By means of its
consequences or
results we determine
the goodness or
badness of an act
No action seems to be
either intrinsically right
or intrinsically wrong, nor
does the goodness or
badness of an act depend
upon the motive,
intention or past action
of the doer
Consequences,
effects, results,
and outcomes
are most
important
What matters is the greatest possible
balance of happiness over
unhappiness for all individuals
affected
E.g. kidney transplant of a patient or
comatose woman
Principle of the greatest happiness
An action is good
(right) insofar as it
produces the
greatest happiness
for the greatest
number of people
An action is bad (wrong) insofar as
it produces more harm than
benefit for the greatest number
of individuals
Utilitarianism provides a
system of formulating,
testing, and evaluating
hospital
policies/regulations - e.g.
visiting hours of children
It mandates to make a reasonable
effort in weighing the likely
results of alternatives- to choose
an act that will produce the most
beneficial outcome – the
greatest happiness- for all
concerned
 Difficulties
1. The utilitarian principle
of utility justifies the
imposition of discomfort
or suffering on a few for
the sake of the many
3. Utilitarianism ignores the
motives from which some moral
decisions are made. It allows
cheating if it has beneficial and
desirable consequences for as
many people as possible
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