How Bioethical How Bioethical Standpoints Standpoints Influence Influence Biomedical Biomedical Decisions Decisions EXAMPLE S
Dec 15, 2015
How Bioethical How Bioethical Standpoints Influence Standpoints Influence Biomedical DecisionsBiomedical Decisions
EXAMPLES
Because of “god” (pure actuality), all of reality is goal-directed
People are goal-directed to tell the truth (just look at the virtuous person), so one
ought to tell the truth
I tell the truth in this situationGROUNDED IN
GROUNDED IN
Aristotle’s
Virtue Ethics
God, who is Love, graciously creates and sustains reality
One ought to love one’s neighbor as one loves oneself
I give to charity
GROUNDED IN
GROUNDED IN
Aquinas’
Christian Ethics
Aquinas’ General Characterization of
Natural Morality
Also the view of John Locke and the US Founding Fathers
I’m an existential nihilist, life is mine, there is nothing else…
One ought to end the pain, if it becomes unbearable
I knowingly and willingly commit suicide
GROUNDED IN
GROUNDED IN
Existential
Nihilism
I’m a religious terrorist, there is always collateral damage in a war, my reward will
be great in heaven…
One ought to die, if necessary, to further the cause, ideology…
I knowingly and willingly commit suicide
GROUNDED IN
GROUNDED IN
Religious
Terrorism
I’m a neuroscientist, mind/soul with moral claims comes to be only with a complex
nervous system…
If the technology is there, one should use it for research, the good
I harvest human embryonic stem cells for research
GROUNDED IN
GROUNDED IN
Neuroscience
I’m a pantheistic Hindu, all of reality is one, sacred, and imbued with autonomy
and respect…
One ought never to harm a living being, especially one that is
sentient
I would never eat a cow or use it in experiments
GROUNDED IN
GROUNDED IN
Pantheistic
Hinduism
I’m a standard monotheist, God has created us in His Image (we’re most
important); we are to “subdue” animals…
One ought to use animals for human benefits (if we must…)
I would eat a cow and use it in experimentsGROUNDED IN
GROUNDED IN
Standard
Monotheism
I’m a Christian Scientist, all that really exists are souls and God; bodies and other
matter are mere illusions…
One ought to trust in God’s love and not “thwart” God’s intervention
No one will operate on my child’s throat cancer
GROUNDED IN
GROUNDED IN
Christian
Science
Thank YouThank You
Robert Arp, Ph.D.Ontology Research Group (ORG)
www.org.buffalo.eduNational Center for Biomedical Ontology (NCBO)
www.bioontology.org
This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health through the NIH Roadmap for Biomedical Research, Grant 1 U 54 HG004028.Information on the National Centers for Biomedical Computing can be found at: http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/bioinformatics.