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Detailed Bioethics UA Bioethics Exam Questions
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EXAM QUESTION BIOETHICSLESSON 1: INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND BIOETHICS
Explain theoretical philosophy. (p14)
Theoretical philosophy is a branch of philosophy that seeks to explore fundamental questions
about the nature of reality, existance and underlying structure of the universe. It aims to
provide a conceptual framework for interpreting and explaining various aspects of reality.
There are different subtypes in theoretical philosophy:
1. Philosofical anthropology
What is a human being?
How are we different from non-human animals?
...
2. Philosophy of science
- What is a gene?
(---> questions about the fundamental nature of reality)
3. Metaphysics
- Is there a difference between body and mind? Or is it one thing?
Explain practical philosophy. (p15)
Practical philosophy is a branch of philosophy that deals with questions related to human
action, conduct, values, ethics, and how individuals should live their lives. It is concerned
with guiding human behavior, making moral judgments, and determining what is right or
wrong. It contains disciplines such as ethics, political philosophy and social philosophy.
1. Ethics
Ethics is the study/search of the moral principles that form the foundation of our norms
and values. It involves the study of ethical theories and frameworks that guide human
behavior and decision-making in various contexts.
2. Political philosophy
Reflecting on questions of politics and power. Aswell as analysing structures such as
capitalism, democracy, colonization, communism and more.
3. Social philosophy
Examines questions about the foundation of social institutions, social behavior and
interpertations of society in terms of ethical values rather than empirical relations.
,Explain ethics and the different sub-disciplines that are whitin ethics. (p18-19)
Ethics is the reflection on morality.
Formerly: Aristotle refers to Socrates: the central question in philosophy is ‘How should one
live?’. This question is linked to the basis of good and evil, moral norms and values, the
concept of the ‘good life’ and the organisation of a just society.
Now: Ethics is the study & search of the principles that form the foundation of our norms
and values. Ethics has become synonymous with moral philosophy. It no longer refers to the
search to find the highest ‘good’ or good life.
Ethics is a branch of practical philosophy that deals with morality on various levels:
1. NON-NORMATIVE BRANCHES
Descriptive ethics (moral science) ---> what do people think is right?
Here the moral decision making process is observated with the goal of describing the
phenomenon. They try to describe how people decide on a certain situation.
Meta-ethics ---> what does ‘right’ even mean?
Examines why humans are moral beings and in what way. For example: are we ethical
because we reason and make the right decision or are we ethical because our
emotions are involved?
2. NORMATIVE ETHICS
General normative ethics
How should people act? What behavior is good or bad? Here they search for the basic
principles of morality in rational terms. They search for a comprehensive moral
theory.
Applied ethics
Handles moral dilemma’s for specific subdomains:
> bioethics
> media ethics
> business ethics
How do we take moral knowledge and put it into practice?
Explain thought experiment. (p16)
A thought experiment is a fictional scenario in which someone tries to test or highlight
certain phylosophical intuitions.
> Some experiments are far-fetched, but they help resolve dilemma’s
> Not exclusive to philosophy: modern physics has also began using them
> Critisism!: thought experiments lead to certain conclusions/truths
---> how do we know its true, for example: cultural differences
Explain experimental philosophy. (p17-18)
, It is an emerging phylosophical field that tries to combine traditional philosophical research
with systematic emperical research. Philosophers are using methods from the social science
to check whether intuitions people have surrounding certain moral cases are actually shared.
Before this, philosophers came up with ideas from their ‘arm chair’. With experimental
philosophy they have to go out and query people.
Explain morality. (p20)
Morality are the principles concerning the distinction between right & wrong or good & bad
behavior.
> based on the fundamental notion of good and bad.
> collective phenomenon: while individuality matters, there is no ‘private’ morality.
> aquired through education, habits and culture: morality cannot be reduced to only the
biological nature of humans.
> guides people’s actions and moral judgements: implies free will and responsibility.
Principles and concepts of morality are independent of the origin of morality. Just as you can
learn a language without knowing the origin of grammar and vocabulary. Morality is also
comprehensive, there is nothing you can do that falls outside of morality. Morality is
spontaneously acquired, similar to language: incorporation happens through both group and
individual, through informal and formal education.
Explain egoistic prudence. (p20)
Thomas Hobbes situates the origin of morality in egoistic prudence.
In the beginning of human history there were few people and many resources. When the
population grew, people had to compete for resources. Individuals were entangled in a bitter
strugle to survive. Only the strongest made it. In this harsh climate, the social contract
emerged: people realised that it was to everyone’s advantage to keep to a set of moral rules
and norms. These rules and norms were institutionalized in laws and enforced by the state.
Explain ethical naturalism. (p21)
Ethical naturalists say that what is morally good can be discovered by looking at scientific
data and can be logically deduced from facts. The underlying idea is that moral facts can be
reduced to non-moral facts.
Peter Railton is a well know ethical naturalist that said that an action is morally good if the
action is done by a fully rational & informed being who also takes the social point of view
into account and includes all interests of all involved. Hence, it is necessary to look at the
empirical data to understand moral goodness.
Explain ethical non-naturalism. (p21)
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