BIO-ETHICS: INTRODUCTORY
SESSIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction to ethics and bio-ethics..................................................................................................4
EXplain these terms............................................................................................................................4
Theoretical philosophy...................................................................................................................4
Practical philosophy........................................................................................................................4
Ethics..............................................................................................................................................4
Thought experiment.......................................................................................................................4
Experimental philosophy................................................................................................................4
Morality..........................................................................................................................................4
Egoistic prudence...........................................................................................................................5
Ethical naturalism...........................................................................................................................5
Ethical non-naturalism....................................................................................................................5
Situate bio-ethics within the broader field of philosophy and in relation to other disciplines...........5
Which method(s) do philosophers use to come to certain conclusions?...........................................5
Which different subdisciplines are there within ethics?.....................................................................6
What do thomas hobbes and frans de waal say about the origins of morality?.................................6
2. Moral theories....................................................................................................................................7
Explain these terms............................................................................................................................7
Utilitarianism..................................................................................................................................7
Hedonism.......................................................................................................................................7
Experience machine........................................................................................................................7
Preference utilitarianism................................................................................................................7
Act utilitarianism............................................................................................................................7
Rule utilitarianism...........................................................................................................................7
Speciesism......................................................................................................................................8
Supererogatory...............................................................................................................................8
Deontology.....................................................................................................................................8
Categorical imperative....................................................................................................................8
Hypothetical imperative.................................................................................................................8
Theory of justice.............................................................................................................................8
The veil of ignorance......................................................................................................................8
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, Ideal theory....................................................................................................................................8
Non-ideal theory.............................................................................................................................9
Virtue ethics...................................................................................................................................9
Phronesis........................................................................................................................................9
Eudaimonia.....................................................................................................................................9
Thin morality..................................................................................................................................9
Thick morality.................................................................................................................................9
Care ethics......................................................................................................................................9
Explain utilitarianism. What are its strong and weak points?.............................................................9
Explain deontology. What are its strong and weak points?..............................................................10
Explain Rawls’s theory of justice. What are its strong and weak points?.........................................11
Explain virtue ethics. What are its strong and weak points?............................................................12
What are the differences and similarities between Aristotle’s concept of virtue and the Aztec
concept of excellence?.....................................................................................................................12
Explain care ethics. What are its strong and weak points?...............................................................13
3. Applied ethics...................................................................................................................................15
Explain these terms..........................................................................................................................15
Ethical pluralism...........................................................................................................................15
Prima facie principles....................................................................................................................15
Beneficence..................................................................................................................................15
Maleficence..................................................................................................................................15
Autonomy.....................................................................................................................................15
Justice...........................................................................................................................................15
Decolonizing ethics.......................................................................................................................16
Deductive approach......................................................................................................................16
Inductive approach.......................................................................................................................16
Reflective equilibrium...................................................................................................................16
Explain moral relativism. What can we learn from moral relativism?..............................................16
According to Beauchamp and Childress, what are the four principles of biomedical ethics? Give
examples of how they can be used...................................................................................................17
Give five examples of logical fallacies and explain each with an example........................................17
4. Experiments on humans and Buen Vivir...........................................................................................19
Explain these terms..........................................................................................................................19
Clinical equipoise..........................................................................................................................19
Therapeutic orphans.....................................................................................................................19
Bikini medicine.............................................................................................................................19
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, Precautionary principle.................................................................................................................19
Therapeutic misconception..........................................................................................................19
Anthropocentrism........................................................................................................................19
Ecocentrism..................................................................................................................................20
Buen Vivir.....................................................................................................................................20
What are the seven requirements of ethical clinical research as laid down in Emanuel, Wendler and
Grady? Explain each requirement briefly.........................................................................................20
Explain environmental justice...........................................................................................................21
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,1. INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND BIO-ETHICS
EXPLAIN THESE TERMS
THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY
Theoretical philosophers ask themselves what human beings are, what the world is and what the universe is.
Examples of theoretical philosophy are metaphysics, philosophical anthropology and philosophy of science.
Although exact sciences have taken much of this domain since Modernity, it is still important to reflect critically
on many questions in science and try to clarify these e.g. when is something scientific?
PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY
Examples of practical philosophy are ethics, political philosophy and social philosophy. Political philosophers
think about questions of politics and power and analyze different structures and ideologies e.g. capitalism,
democracy, colonization and patriarchy. Social philosophers on the other hand think about the origin and the
essence of a society and the relation between individuals and social culture.
ETHICS
According to Socrates and Aristotle, ethics are the search for “the higher good” or “the good life”. Now,
however, ethics are mostly about the search for and the study of the principles that are the basis of norms and
values. Ethics are a branch of philosophy (moral philosophy) that deals with the common notion of good and
bad, referred to as morality, on different levels.
THOUGHT EXPERIMENT
A thought experiment is a fictional case with which one tries to test or bring to the fore certain philosophical
intuitions. It is often used to draw certain conclusions or to state philosophical (and universal) truths. An
example is the thought experiment by which Edmund Gettier suggested that it is not enough to have a true
justified belief of something in order to be able to speak about really knowing something (Gettier cases).
However, there has been some critique on using thought experiments ‘from the armchair’ during the last
twenty years: how do we know that these intuitions are correct? Don’t they depend on our culture?
EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY
Experimental philosophers question the function of thought experiments and the philosophical intuitions they
are thought to invoke. It has for example been demonstrated that philosophical intuitions can differ between
cultures, meaning that values and thoughts resulting from Western philosophy may be less universal than
thought. Experimental philosophy is a field of philosophical research that attempts to combine traditional
philosophical research with systematic empirical research e.g. surveys which probe intuitions of ordinary
people. However, some people have criticized it by saying that it uses a flawed methodology (poor sample size,
data analysis…) and that it is rather psychology than philosophy.
MORALITY
Morality is a code of rules and principles based on a fundamental notion of good and bad by which people’s
acts and judgements are guided. In other words: morality is the common notion of good and bad. It is a
collective given (there is no such thing as private morality) and it is acquired through education, habit and
culture.
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,EGOISTIC PRUDENCE
According to Thomas Hobbes, morality, being the common notion of good and bad, applies specifically to
humans living in a society and originates from egoistic prudence:
As the human population grew, people had to compete for resources. Only the strongest people survived. As a
result of this harsh climate (“homo homini lupus est”, meaning “a man is a wolf to another man”), the social
contract emerged: it was to everyone’s advantage to stick to a set of moral rules and norms. These rules and
norms were institutionalized in laws and enforced by the state.
ETHICAL NATURALISM
Ethical naturalist like Peter Railton state that moral facts can be logically deduced from non-moral facts and
thus that moral facts are not separate from empirical facts.
ETHICAL NON-NATURALISM
Ethical non-naturalists like G.E. Moore state that moral facts cannot be deduced from non-moral facts and thus
that goodness is a separate, fundamental characteristic. They believe that goodness can only be shown and
grasped (not defined) and that goodness is what our moral intuitions point to (not what we imply from
empirical facts).
SITUATE BIO-ETHICS WITHIN THE BROADER FIELD OF PHILOSOPHY AND IN RELATION TO OTHER
DISCIPLINES
Ethics/moral philosophy is generally considered as a form of
practical philosophy that deals with morality on different levels.
Bio-ethics in particular is a form of applied ethics, which is a
normative subdiscipline of ethics. However, bio-ethics is also an
interdisciplinary field. According to Onora O-Neil, it has become a
meeting ground for various disciplines to discuss ethical, legal,
and social questions raised by advances in medicine, science and
biotechnology.
WHICH METHOD(S) DO PHILOSOPHERS USE TO COME TO CERTAIN CONCLUSIONS?
Philosophy is a discipline in which one tries to think through certain things in a clear and consistent way. This
philosophical method differs from other types of thinking in several ways:
Philosophers think about the meaning of concepts. The meaning of many everyday concepts may not be as
straightforward if you consider it more closely e.g. what does it mean to have an identity? These type of
questions are also relevant for researchers e.g. do interventions like deep brain stimulation affect identity
and is this relevant in the discussion on acceptability of these techniques?
Philosophers question commonly held assumptions e.g. philosophers of science question whether and how
true scientific progress is possible, while many people just assume that science progresses linearly and
cumulatively.
Philosophers often use thought experiments rather than generating scientific data by doing experiments
themselves. A thought experiment is a fictional case with which one tries to test or bring to the fore certain
philosophical intuitions. It is often used to draw certain conclusions or to state philosophical (and
universal) truths. An example is the thought experiment by which Edmund Gettier suggested that it is not
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, enough to have a true justified belief of something in order to be able to speak about really knowing
something (Gettier cases). However, there has been some critique on using thought experiments ‘from the
armchair’ during the last twenty years: how do we know that these intuitions are correct? Experimental
philosophers have for example demonstrated that philosophical intuitions can differ between cultures,
meaning that values and thoughts resulting from Western philosophy may be less universal than thought.
Experimental philosophy is a field of philosophical research that attempts to combine traditional
philosophical research with systematic empirical research e.g. surveys which probe intuitions of ordinary
people. This in turn is criticized by saying that it uses a flawed methodology (poor sample size, data
analysis…) and that it is rather psychology than philosophy.
WHICH DIFFERENT SUBDISCIPLINES ARE THERE WITHIN ETHICS?
Ethics/moral philosophy is generally considered as a form of practical philosophy that deals with morality on
different levels. This discipline is further subdivided in:
Two non-normative branches
1. Descriptive ethics/moral sciences approach morality from social sciences, psychology and cultural
anthropology e.g. psychologists Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan have studied different
stages of moral development in children
2. Metaethics study why and how human beings show moral sensitivity by looking at social sciences,
history and biology e.g. is morality a matter of emotions or reason? Also concept such as good and
bad, justice… are studied.
Two normative branches
1. General normative ethics try to explain basic principles of morality in rational terms and look for a
comprehensive moral theory. In other words: these kind of ethics try to determine which kind of
behavior is good and bad.
2. Applied ethics analyze specific moral dilemmas from specific subdomains of human action e.g.
media ethics (journalists’ duties towards those interviewed?), business ethics (company’s
responsibility concerning the well-being of its employees?) and bio-ethics
WHAT DO THOMAS HOBBES AND FRANS DE WAAL SAY ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF MORALITY?
According to Thomas Hobbes, morality applies specifically to humans living in a society and originates from
egoistic prudence. As the human population grew, people had to compete for resources. Only the strongest
people survived. As a result of this harsh climate (cf. “homo homini lupus est”, meaning “a man is a wolf to
another man”), the social contract emerged: it was to everyone’s advantage to stick to a set of moral rules and
norms. These rules and norms were institutionalized in laws and enforced by the state.
However, in one of the experiments of Frans De Waal, we see that a capuchin monkey protests if it does not
receive the same reward as another monkey after performing the same task. It is thereby demonstrated that
fairness and altruism, both prerequisites for morality, are also common among non-human animals. This
implies that morality is also exhibited by non-human animals and has a biological origin. Of course, morality in
non-human animals is still considered different from human morality, as there is also a place for religion and
the concept of taboo.
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