Ethics Final

• developmental
• functionalities
• capacities

• essence
• nature of being itself that determines whether it is morally protected

any condition which must be present to bring about a desired result, but which could not cause the result itself, without a sufficient cause

any condition which suffices to bring about the effect. It is by definition, at the same time a necessary condition for the effect

• living things
• internal essence that orders its change and development
• the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
• unity and cohesiveness
• maintain their ontological identity through change

• inanimate objects
• ordered, but order is externally imposed
• no defining essence or principle that directs its change
• do not maintain ontological identity through change

• functions
• 1. to be the dwelling place of the spirit which derived from the being whose image it was: carry out the essence of what it represents
• 2. as a representative of one who is really or spiritually present, though physically absent...king and land

• "in our image, in our likeness..."--Genesis 1:26--27
• image= some definite quality or characteristic within the makeup of the human/ usually reason
• they agree on one particular conception: location of the image: within the humans
• quality or capacity resident in their nature

• "Let us...male and female he created them..." Genesis 1:26-27
• image of God is experiencing relationships
• the relationship is the image
• dynamic, not static
• paralleled by relationship of one human to another

• "...and let them rule...rule over...the lord God...put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it..."
• image consists of something we do, function we perform
• exercise of dominion over the creation

• both created on day 6
• both brought forth/made from the "ground"

• humans created in image of God
• humans given dominion over animals
• god breathed directly the "breath of life" into man
• suitable companion for man could not be found anywhere
• human beings are given free will
• humans experience relationships with one another and with God
• humans are permitted to kill and eat animals but not other humans

• no one point when life begins
• sperm and egg cell are as alive as any other organism

• new individual is created at fertilization
• genes combine to form new being

• single individuality is not fixed earlier than day 14
• different souls

• EEG @ 27 weeks
• loss of EEG pattern

• begins when it can exist separately from its maternal environment
• 25 weeks

• when organism recognizes the distinction between self and non-self
• about birth for humans

• begins when an individual has becomes independent of the mother and has its own functioning circulatory system...etc.
• day of birth

• number of abortions per 1,000 live births
• 238 in 2004

16 per 1,000 women in 2004

• concerned about how having baby would change her life
• can't afford baby now
• as problems with relationship and wants to avoid single parenthood

• involving no outside or external intervention
• miscarriages

• involving outside or external intervention
• Three types:
• therapeutic
• eugenic
• elective

• performed to save the mother's life
• >tubal pregnancies
• >maternal heart disease
• >maternal cancer

• performed to abort a fetus that has or is at risk for some physical and/or mental handicaps
• life or health of fetus

• "right to choose" for other reasons
• 92%-93% are elective

• 1973
• 3 trimesters
• although women has right to abortion, state also has interest in protecting woman's health and life of fetus
• grows with development of fetus

women's "health" is broadened to include emotional and psychological factors

• woman's right to abortion cannot be limited by the requirement that a spouse or parent of a minor child must grant prior permission
• parent to counseling
• PA law mostly upheld

• right to an abortion is a negative right, a right to be left alone and free from interference in pursuing an abortion
• no public funds, no use of public facilities for abortions that are not necessary to save human's life

merging of sperm and egg into a single cell

7 days (implantation) to 8 weeks

9 weeks to birth

7-10 days

• Privacy: "right to privacy" included a woman's freedom to choose abortion-on-demand
• Personhood: pre-born entity is not a person
• Viability: state has an interest in, or may protect, only the viable fetus-- one that can survive outside the womb

at the patient's request; when a patient request that someone take his or her life and his or her desire is honored

against the wishes of the patient; when a patient desires to live and his or her request is not honored

without the knowledge or consent of the patient; when a patient is killed by someone who is not aware of the patients' wishes, either because those wishes are unobtainable or because the person chooses not to obtain them

individual himself carries out the decision to die

someone else carries out the decision of the patient to die

• "directly taking the life of the patient"
• "mercy killing"
• someone causes it, not the disease

• "acting to avoid prolonging the dying process"
• withholding or refusal of treatment
• TLS
• "letting die"
• disease or underlying condition causes death

• difference between commission (active) and omission (passive)
• intention
• what is the actual cause

• physician serves as a causal agent in death
• provide means, prescription
• death is caused by medication, not underlying condition
• OR, WA, MT

course of treatment for a disease or injury that offers reasonable hope of benefit to the patient without being burdensome

do not offer such hope and place undue burdens on the patient

• living will
• values inventory
• DNR
• DPAHC: durable power of attorney for health care

• coma, respirator
• parents decided to remove respirator
• NJ supreme court ruled in favor of Quinlans: let the incompetent patient die by disconnecting LS

• PVS- 7 years
• withdrawal of feeding tube
• court recognized right of a competent patient to decline medical treatment
• court found that withdrawing a feeding tube did not differ from withdrawing other medical support
• court held that state could, but not need pass a statute requiring the clear and convicting standard of evidence about what a formerly competent patient would have wanted (incompetent now)

• Hemlock society
• Jean's Way
• Final Exit...etc

• "Doctor Death"
• "Mercitron"
• Janet Adkins- watched
• Thomas Youk- administered lethal injection

• Diane
• provided drugs

• "Right to Die"
• Oregon
• Washington
• Montana
• 59 deaths in 2009

• first country to legalize euthanasia and PAS
• doctors practice it apart from the guidelines

• no morally relevant difference between killing and letting die
• biological life v biographical life
• biological life is unimportant
• biographical life is "the sum of one's aspirations, decisions, activities, projects and human relationships"
• kid in the tub

• if abortion is morally justified, so is euthanasia
• in utero v in estremis

• if an inherently good act has two effects, one good and one bad, a person can act morally in doing the act provided
• 1. only the good effect is intended
• 2. the bad effect is not the means to the good effect
• 3. the good effect is at least equal to the bad effect

still guilty because case masks the difference; both wrong, evil, neither one is ok.

• person whose sexual attraction to those of the same gender is so deeply rooted that it is part of his or her essential being
• homosexual orientation
• inversion