2012Marek Vácha

Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. This is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life is evil.

Albert Schweitzer

Gyges´ ring

Plato in The Republic has one of his characters ask us to engage in a though experiment. He tells the story of Gyges´ring, whose effect was to make its wearer invisible. What would prevent the possessor of the ring from commiting any crime he felt like committing? He could never be caught. Would we not all be tempted, if we had such a ring, to do whatever our heart desired, knowing we would not, could not, be found out?

there are two ways how to create order: by use of power by use of self-

restraint when only police or

army stand between order nad riots, freedom itself is at risk

Tottenham, august 2011

Science x Ethics

science investigates what is ethics investigates what ought to be

Science

The composition of mammalian blood is plasma 55% and cellular elements 45 %

leukocytes are: basophils, eosinophyls, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes

IgE antibodies are produced in response to initial exposure to an alergen bind to receptors an mast cells

blood glucose level is about 90mg/100ml

Ethics

when, if ever, is possible to take a gift or gratuity from a patient?

Is it permissible to lie to a patient if it is for his or her good?

what obligations do I have to a colleague and fellow practitioner when I suspect that the colleague I am working with is abusing alcohol or appears chemically impaired while on duty?

Ethics

…and what about the Bodies exhibition?

Is this show ethically neutral? …or good? …or bad?

"Friendly embryos"

http://www.cuni.cz/IFORUM-9834.html

There are more complicated questions...

Is there any sort of pursuit of knowledge that might be forbidden? is there a category of a "forbidden knowledge"?

Is there any sort of research that should not be publicly funded?

Is there any sort of genetic knowledge that it might be better not to know?

Is any basic research ethically mandatory in some way?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkW0C-NyNtQ

There are more complicated questions...

should the use of cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer (the technique used to produce Dolly) be allowed in order to help as infertile couple have a child?

should the entire UK population and all visitors to Britain be compelled to provide DNA samples as a means of enabling the police to detect the perpetrators of criminal acts?

(Mepham, B., (2008) Bioethics. An Introduction for the Biosciences. 2nd ed- Oxford University Press, Oxford. p. 3)

There are more complicated questions...

Is it possible to say that future benefits justify the present

practices? future abuses do not disqualify present

uses?

There are more complicated questions...

Is a goal of the medicine painless, suffering-free and, finally, immortal existence?

Science x Ethics

Methodological Naturalism: what natural world contains how it arrived at its current state laws that regulate its behavior

Ontological Naturalism: nothing else exists

Science and Philosophy

PhilosophyScience

The aim of the medicine: to elongate the life of the patient

The aim of the medicine: to elongate the life of the patient, „a horizontal“ of his/her lifeThe aim of the moral philosophy: to give a meaningfulness of the life of the patient, „a vertical“ of his/her life

the lenght of lifebiological medicine

„the art of living“the ethics according to Aristote

Ethics and Morality

Ethics is primarily a matter of knowing Morality is a matter of doing

morality is what people believe to be right and good

ethics is the critical reflections about morality and the rational analysis of it.

Good ethics start with good facts!

1. Defining the problem2. Descriptive – defining what is going on,

description of who the patient is, who the family is, what is their moral world; what the options are in terms of diagnosis, therapy, prognosis, goals, what can be done, weighting the risks and benefits.

3. Normative – ethics arises from value conflict – concerns itself with the „should“ questions

Descriptive Ethics and Normative Ethics Descriptive Ethics

What do people think is right? philosophical schools, religions etc.

Normative Ethics identification of values what behavior is good and why supported by arguments what should I do and why?

Whereas descriptive ethics attempts to describe and explain those moral views that in fact are accepted,

normative ethics attempts to establish which moral views are justifiable and thus ought to be accepted.

Normative Ethics

Normative ethics is the attempt to determine what moral standards should be followed so that human behaviour and conduct may be morally right.

Normative ethics is concerned with establishing standards for conduct and is commonly associated with theories about how one ought to live.

The position of the teacher

the teacher is not in „God-like position“ the teacher is not

a harbinger of an ultimate truth a opinion-maker

the teacher doesn´t say „how things are“ his/her task is more complicated

to tell to the students what is known about the problem

and then he/she try to moderate the discussion

The Scandal of Philososphy

We have moved forward in medicine during the past 2 000 years we now know much better the human body than

Hippocrates knew

..but have we move forward in philosophy? is our contemporary philosophy better than the

philosophy of Aristote? maybe not!

the philosophy might be somewhere between art and science

The Problems of teaching Philosophy

the notions are generally not so clear as in science

there is no such thing like „hard data“ different people could have different opinions

„there is only one science but many philosophies“ everyone has his/her own philosophy a philosophy is joint to the person of the

philosopher and his/her epoch

…but is it true?

What is the difference between a postmodernist and a member of the Mafia?

The Mafia makes you an offer you can´t refuse. A posmodernist makes you an offer you can´t understand.

Ethical relativism

„Well..... well.... we will think about it.“

Ethical relativism

there is no goodness or badness there is no rightness or wrongness ....there are only opinions

Dostojevskij: if God does not exists, all is permitted.

Why to start with Philosophy?

In the history of the human spirit I distinguish between epochs of habitation and epochs of homelessness. In the former, man lives in the world as in the house, as in a home. In the latter, man lives in the world as in an open field and at times does not even have four pegs with which to set up a tent.

In the former epochs anthropological thought exist only as a part of cosmological thought. In the latter, anthropological thought gains depth and with it, independence.

(Martin Buber: Between Man and Man)

E.O. Wilson

the organism is only DNA´s way of making more DNA the hypothalamus and limbic system are

engineered to perpetuate DNA these centers flood our consciousnessn with all

the emotions – hate, love, guilt, fear, and others – that are consulted by ethical philosophers who wish to intuit the standards of good and evil

(Wilson, E.O., (2000) Sociobiology. The New Synthesis. Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition. The Belknap Press of Harward University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England. p. 3)

E.O. Wilson

The hypothalamic-limbic complex of a highly social species, such as man, „knows“, or more precisly it has been programmed to perform as if it knows, that its underlying genes will be proliferated maximally only if it orchestrates behavioral responses that bring into play an efficient mixture of personal survival, reproduction, and altruism

(Wilson, E.O., (2000) Sociobiology. The New Synthesis. Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition. The Belknap Press of Harward University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England. p. 4)

Common Morality

is a product of human experience and history and is a universaly shared product

is found in all cultures is not relative to cultures and individuals,

because it transcends both (Beauchamp, T.L., Childress, J.F., (2009) Principles of Biomedical Ethics. 6th ed. Oxford University Press,

New York, Oxford, p. 4)

Herodotus (5th century BC): During Darius´s reign, he invited some Greeks who were present to a conference, and ask them how much money it would take for them to be prepared to eat the corpses of their fathers; they replied that they would not do that for any amount of money. Next, Darius summoned some members of the Indian tribe known as Callatiae, who eat their parents, and asked them in the presence of the Greeks, with an interpreter present so that they could understand what was being said, how much money it would take for them to be willing to cremate their fathers´ corpses; they cried out in horror and told him not to say such appalling things. So these practises have become enshrined as customs just as they are, and I think Pindar was right to have said in his poem that custom is king of all.

(Blackburn, S., (2001) Ethics. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 18)

animals?

women

nationalities(nazism)

colour of skin(American Civil War)

people in the same geographical locality

tribe

family

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 7 All are equal before the law and are entitled

without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

(Nash, R.F., (1989) The Rights of Nature. A History of Environmental Ethics. The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, London. p. 5)

What is a person…?

human eggs? embryos or fetuses? newborns? the brain dead? nonhuman animals? cybrids?

enemies in war different races women and children

A Theory Based on

biological species cognitive capacity moral agency sentience communal relationship

A Theory based on Cognitive Properties a person has to have :

self-consciousness freedom to act and capacity to engage in

purposeful actions ability to give and to appreciate reasons for

acting capacity to communicate with other persons

using a language rationality and higher order volition

A Theory Based on Sentience

person = a being capable of feeling pain a pleasure

having the capacity of sentience is a sufficient condition of moral status pain is an evil, pleasure a good to cause pain to any entity is to harm it even if you were not cognitively capable,

morally capable, or biologically human, pain and suffering would be real to you

A Theory Based on Sentience

in this theory a fetus does have moral status at some point after several weeks of development, and thus abortions at that point would be prima facie impermissible this point is prior to the stage of development

at which some legal abortions now occur.

A Theory Based on Sentiencecritique

any individual lacking the capacity for sentience lacks moral status this theory disallows moral status for early-staged

fetuses as well as for all who have irreversibly lost the capacity for sentience, such as patients with severe brain damage

the degree of moral status and the level of moral protection can vary according to conditions such as the quality, richness, or complexity of life as loss of capacity occurs, humans (and nonhumans)

will have a decreased moral status In this way, the most vulnerable beings can become

the most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. No theory is morally acceptable that yields this conditions

A Theory Based on Moral Agency

a person… is capable of making moral judgments about

the rightness or wrongness of actions has the motives that can be judged morally

= capacity for moral agency gives an individual moral respect and dignity

A Theory Based on Relationships

relationships between parties account for moral status

the less the degree to which the fetus can be said to be part of a social matrix, the weaker the argument for regarding her/him as having the same moral status as persons

once fetuses are detected in utero by stethoscope or sonogram, they become in significant respects part of a social matrix

A Theory Based on Relationshipscritique

is it true, that only social bonds and attitudes alone determine moral status?

the different degrees of moral status, such as moral agents having a higher degree of status than individuals lacking such agency

no matter how much we love a favorite plant or institution, neither the plant nor the institution gains status by virtue of this relationship

A Theory Based on Human Properties All humans have full moral status and only

humans have that status an individual has moral status if and only if

that inidividual is conceived by human parents, or is an organism with a human genetic code

to be a living member of the species Homo sapiens sapiens is a necessary and sufficient condition of moral respect

A Theory Based on Human Properties no human is excluded on the basis of a

property such as being a fetus, having brain damage, or having a congenital anomaly.

the moral status of human infants, mentally disabeld humans, and those with a permanent loss of consciousness is not in doubt

A Theory Based on Human Properties all humans have human rights, whether or

not the rights are legally recognized in a political state

je sice pravda, že lidoopi vnímají bolest a lidé v PVS ne, to ale neznamená, že by nebylo rozdílu!

Peter Singer

„human being“ and „human person“ person = being able to feel pleasentness and

unpleasentness patient in PVS or human embryo is not a

person, a dog is.

Peter Singer

if we set a moral frame to incorporate all the people, a lot of animals are inside as well

if we set a moral frame to incorporate no animals, a lot of people are left out as well.

Peter Singer

creatures included in Singer´s moral community has to posses nervous systems of sufficient sophistication to feel pain

ethics ceases to apply somewhere „between a shrimp and oyster.“ ethics ends at „the boundary of sentience.“

the fact that a deer does not think like a person was no more relevant in the assignation of rights than the advanced quality of Einstein´s thought compared to an average person´s.

Peter Singer

creatures included in Singer´s moral community has to posses nervous systems of sufficient sophistication to feel pain

ethics ceases to apply somewhere „between a shrimp and oyster.“ ethics ends at „the boundary of sentience.“

the fact that a deer does not think like a person was no more relevant in the assignation of rights than the advanced quality of Einstein´s thought compared to an average person´s.

Peter Singer"We protest his hiring because Dr. Singer denies the intrinsic moral worth of an entire class of human beings - newborn children - and promotes policies that would deprive many infants with disabilities of their basic human right to legal protection against homicide." ... Princeton University student petition protesting Peter Singer's hiring.

Empirical Functionalism

„person“

Peter Singer

„person“

osoba = to, co vnímálibosti a nelibosti

ethics ceases to apply somewhere „between a shrimp and oyster.“

Peter Singer

"When the death of a disabled infant will lead to the birth of another infant with better prospects of a happy life, the total amount of happiness will be greater if the disabled infant is killed. The loss of the happy life for the first infant is outweighed by the gain of a happier life for the second. Therefore, if the killing of the hemophiliac infant has no adverse effect on others it would be right to kill him." (Practical Ethics)

Speciesism (P. Singer)

= the belief, that we are entitled to treat members of other species in a way in which it would be wrong to treat members of our own.

Specieism

„If we compare a severely defective human infant with a nonhuman animal, a dog, a pig, for example, we will often find the nonhuman to have superior capacities, both actual and potential, for rationality, self-consciousness, communication, and anything else that can plausibly be considered morally significant. Only the fact that the defective infant is a member of the species homo sapiens, leads it to be treated differently from the dog or pig.“

Singer, P., (1983) Sanctity of life or quality of life. Pediatrics,72:128-129

Stephen Hawking

Ontologický personalismus

„person“

Ontologický personalismus

„person“

Nazism

Ontological Personalism

„person“

OntologicalPersonalism

„person“

A Theory Based on Human Properties All humans have full moral status and only

humans have that status an individual has moral status if nad only if that

inidividual is conceived by human parents, or is an organism with a human genetic code

no human is excluded on the basis of a property such as being a fetus, having brain damage, or having a congenital anomaly.

the moral status of human infants, mentally disabeld humans, and those with a permanent loss of consciousness is not in doubt

A Theory Based on Human Properties all humans have human rights, whether or

not the rights are legally recognized in a political state

Critique

dividing Homo sapiens sapiens to two groups black x white germans x non-germans communists x noncommunists in-group x out-group beings x persons

...was not good in any case The attempt to produce Heaven on Earth

often produces Hell. (Karl Popper)

New York 1948: Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. (Article 2)

...taught us the paradoxical truth that nations survive not by wealth but by the help they give to the poor, not by power but by the care they extend to the weak. Civilisation become invulnerable only when they care for the vulnerable.

Sacks, J., (2011) The Great Partnership. God, Science and the Search for Meaning. Hodder & Stoughton, London. p.290

Ethics

behaviorism: give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed,

and my own specified world to bring them up in and I´ll guarantee to take anyone at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities,vocations, and race of his ancestors.

B.F. Skinner

there is an innate tendency to respond to rewards and punishments in certain ways

…but the pattern of rewards and punishments is the immediate and primary cause of behavioral outcomes

Environmentalism

= we are what we learn environmentalism dominated psychology until

1960s

Postmodern secular culture tends to underemphasize responsibility, thereby generating a strange contradiction.

On the one hand we have almost unlimited freedom to choose.

On the other, when things go wrong, it is rarely our fault. Something or someone else is to blame: poverty, discrimitation, a difficult childhood, the educational system, psychological abuse, the media, the government, junk food, or any other of the proliferating varieties of exculpation.

An employee, fired for consistently showing up late to work, sues his employers on the grounds that he is a victim of „chronic lateness syndrome“. The Economist noted about the United States, „If you lose your job you can sue for the mental distress of being fired… if you drive drunk and crash you can sue somebody for failing to warn you to stop drinking. There is always somebody else to blame.“

(Sacks, J., (2005) To Heal a Fractured World. The Ethics of Responsibility. Continuum, London, p. 182)

„Nature is strong and she is pitiless. She works in her own mysterious way, and we are her victims. We have not much to do with ourselves. Nature takes this job in hand, and we play our parts.“

1925, Clarence Darrow.

The flight from responsibility into victimhood is the oldest of all human temptations

„learned helplessness“