Sunday 15 March 2015

The American Medical Association's Code of Ethics states that while an individual’s opinion on capital punishment is a personal moral decision,...

Virtue theorists, who follow the field of virtue ethics, emphasize the importance of character over the importance of performing one's duty and over the importance of carrying out actions that have good results. There are three branches of virtue ethics--eudaimonism (which emphasizes the importance of human flourishing), agent-based theories (which emphasize that virtue arises from observing virtue in others), and ethics of care (which emphasizes ethics not just based on fairness but also on caring...

Virtue theorists, who follow the field of virtue ethics, emphasize the importance of character over the importance of performing one's duty and over the importance of carrying out actions that have good results. There are three branches of virtue ethics--eudaimonism (which emphasizes the importance of human flourishing), agent-based theories (which emphasize that virtue arises from observing virtue in others), and ethics of care (which emphasizes ethics not just based on fairness but also on caring for others).


Using any of these three branches of virtue theory would likely result in the decision that the anesthesiologist should not work with the state to formulate a drug cocktail for executions. You can use the basic ideas of the three branches of virtue theory to reason why. For example, eudaimonism emphasizes the importance of performing one's function well in society. A doctor who formulates a drug cocktail would not be carrying out his or her function. Agent-based theorists would likely want the anesthesiologist to model his or her behavior on other doctors who would not carry out this type of work (though the problem with this branch of virtue theory is that it does not specify what virtuous behavior actually is or how to model our behavior on others who act virtuously). Using the idea of the ethics of care, which states ethics involve caring, you can reason whether the doctor should help formulate a drug cocktail or not. 

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In "By the Waters of Babylon," under the leadership of John, what do you think the Hill People will do with their society?

The best place to look for evidence in regards to what John's plans are for his people is the final paragraphs of the story. John has re...