Principles and Theories of ethics Essay

In their quest to seek for solutions on respectable issues, hu earthly concern worlds have constantly been formulating theories. These theories form an important point from where all investigation should be launched. As state invent new ideas or stock-still improve on the current existing ideas, more(prenominal) challenges and complications come up. This has been observed in the modern world where scientific advancement has seemed to dominate in all field of knowledge. Among these fields of scientific inventions is the medical checkup field which umteen mass have believed to reduce the mortality rate rate and at the same time increased the keep expectancy among many mickle in the world.Despite all these, fertility rate has seemed to reduce among the people while the terminal illnesses have been cursorily increasing. It is this reason that many doctors and medical pr forgeitioners have joined hands to look for long lasting solutions to these enigmas. whatsoever of the se solutions have been unearthed, which include the use of stop cellular telephones in treating tolerants with these problems. This has however raised many questions especially on issues concerning honourable justifications. This paper on that pointfore examines deuce of such works that were carried out by Dr Shroff and Dr.Kerkis as report in articles entitled mice have been used to make human sperm and Stem cell intercession lets Aussie breathe respectively. (http//www. news. com. au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23768047-5012754,00. hypertext markup language http//search. news. com. au/search? us=ndmperthnow&sid=5012760&as=NEWS. WORLD. CANDSAMERICA&ac=TST&q=Mice%20to%20replace%20men%20as%20sperm%20donors ) check to Rainbow C, there exist four prescripts of morality. These include least terms, umpire beneficence and respect for autonomy.According to the principle to the principle of least harm, it is prudent to make a choice that forgeting harm the least come in of people. The choice do should withal result to the least harm to the people involved. In the modern world, there atomic number 18 so many men who be willing to have children but unable be establish their sperms ar non possible. According to the research, there is still hope for couples who experience such problems. The use of mice in ware of human sperms and so adheres to the principle of least harm and thus justices the use of mice in production of viable human sperms.The extr figureion of the dental pulp from teeth is however harmful but there harm is less as compared to the inability of a man to have viable sperms. (http//www. bio. davidson. edu/people/kabernd/Indep/carainbow/Theories. htm ) The principle of justice on the other(a) hand encourages play interpretions that are fair to the concerned. Such a decision should be reproducible and based on logic unless justified otherwise by existence of justified extenuating statuss. In the case of mice and human sperm cells prod uction, it should be noted that the men are first given the hazard to try their best to endure children in the natural way.Professional medical practitioners who exploit any other alternative of dealing with such a situation confirm their inability. The couples are finally given the panorama to choose what is good for them and thus the use of mice is only for those who are willing. This therefore adheres to the principle of justice. Dr Kerkis has also made it clear that she first used stem cells from dental pulp that was extracted from a male donor. It therefore pith that the process is justified by the adhearing to the principle of justice since the consent of the concerned was first sought.(http//www. lancs. ac. uk/fss/resources/ethical motive/theories. htm http//www. trinity. edu/cbrown/intro/ honourable_theories. html) According to beneficence principle, people must do all that is seen to be good. Just desire the utility principle, it is always advisable to maximize what is good and minimize the evil. It is very true to say that the great the amounts of good that people do, the more the earns. According to this principle, production of viable human sperm cells by mice will do well to those who are unable.Apart from improving the psychological health of the concerned, it will also uphold family bonds that whitethorn otherwise be weakened by the inability to get children especially in those communities where children are highly valued as an important ingredient in a happy marriage. (http//www. trinity. edu/cbrown/intro/ethical_theories. html ) According to the principle of respect for autonomy, it is very important to allow people to reign everyplace themselves and to be able to make decisions that apply to their get laids .This is based on the fact that only an individual can gain why he/she chooses a particular lifestyle. Since every human organism must be respected, any decision, especially that which involves intimate issues, must come from him. In order to do so, he must get enough information in the consequences and finally, his consent must be obtained. The reason is because every human being has hisher emotions and motivations that heshe understands from hisher own life experiences.It is the right for every person to lead a life style that he she actually enjoys in which the control everywhere it is vested in hisher decision. It is however important to realize that there exists two perspectives of autonomy respects paternalists and libertarians views. According to paternals, an authority prioritizes a dependent persons best interests over the dependent persons wishes. In the case of mice and human sperms, since the man is aware of his inability to produce viable sperms even though he may wish to have children, he has the freedom to choose to live without them.If he decides so and realizes more satisfaction without the children than using mice to produce viable sperms, he becomes libertarian. When his married wom an and medical practitioner convinces him to use mice to get children, the principle of autonomy is violated and he becomes a paternalistic since his wish may not be based on the use of mice in producing the viable sperms even though his interest is to get children. Libertarian perspective is therefore observed when the persons wish is prioritized over hisher best interest.The person maintains hisher autonomy over hisher decision. ( onlyan J. Kimmel, 1988, pp. 42) In the case of stem cells discussion for the paralyse man is Australia, the principle of least harm is violated since the extraction of the embryonal stem cells will cost the life of the unborn child ir careless(predicate) of whether the concerned womans consent was given or not. merciful life ideally begins after fertilization and it is wrong to deprive the unborn of its right to live in favor of a person who has already had the chance to be born.If such actions were to be encouraged, many people will never live to be born and this will cause more harm than treating the paralyzed people especially if Dr Shroffs vision is to be realized as expressed by her hopes her applied science would be made available around the world to patients suffering from incurable diseases and terminal conditions. Dr Shroffs engineering science also contradicts the principle of justice. The fact that there are many incurable diseases and terminal conditions that may be cured using embryonic stem cells does not justify the act of depriving the unborn the right to life.It will therefore be an act of injustice to deprive the unborn of their right to life. The only extenuating circumstance should be when the womans pregnancy threatens the life of both the unborn and its mother. The doctors advice should be sought and any alternative exploited before the decision to terminate the pregnancy and donate the embryonic stem cells is arrived. It should be realized however that this would result to paternalistic autonomy. Dr Sh roffs technology will also violate the principle of beneficence.This is because the embryo will not benefit in any way from the act of donating its stem cells. The embryo itself cannot give permission to donate the stem cells. The principle of autonomy is not spared either. The patient may enjoy a paternalistic autonomy but the embryo, which is indeed a human being does not have autonomy to decide on whether to donate the stem cells or not . For a person to make any sound decision on any issue, the principles however form the root of ethical themes. According to rainbow C, there are five major ethical theories.These include virtual ethical theory, deontological theory, casuist theory and utilitarianism ethical theory. (http//www. bio. davidson. edu/people/kabernd/Indep/carainbow/Theories. htm ) According to virtual ethical theory, a person is not judged through his/her actions but through his/her caseful. An action may not necessary indicate a persons conventionality behavior sin ce behavior and action are normally conflicting. It is however important to observe an individuals reputation, motivation and morals while making any judgment on any behavior that may seem to be unusual, irregular or unethical.It should however be observed that any individuals change of character is not put into consideration in this theory. This theory justifies the use of embryonic stem cells in the treatment of paralyzed patients. The assumption is that the doctors and the medical practitioners who actually carry out the process of extracting and injecting the stem cells into his/her victims body are people who are trusted and socially approved by the members of the community. Their character justifies their actions and thus they should not be questioned about what they do as long as a patients life is saved.The act of extracting the embryonic stem cells cannot be used to prove the doctor as guilty of murder as long as his/her record of accomplishment in this profession of medici ne is clean. According to Rainbow C, the fiats rights are ethically correct and must be protected and prioritized while making any decision. All societies rights are ethically valid because the majority in any society endorses them. Those who have the power and resources may bestow rights upon people. The society is therefore responsible for deciding on what should be considered as a society is right.The issue of mice producing viable human sperm cells may not be welcomed by many societies. This is because many people do not think that human beings and animals especially the mice can share sperm cells. A child produced by such sperms may be isolated from the other people and this may cause more suffering and harm to it than good. Termination of human life is also unacceptable in the society. This is patent in countries where Christianity is the dominant religion. If the use of contraceptives is criminalized in such societies, it is even worse to extract embryonic stem cells to tre at paralyzed people or even those with terminal illnesses.In such societies, everybody has the right to live and those people who are already born should seek medication incase of any ailment but not to destroy a life in order to save themselves. (http//www. bio. davidson. edu/people/kabernd/Indep/carainbow/Theories. htm ) According to deontological theory, peoples obligation and duties that have been assigned to them should guide them in the process of solving ethical predicaments. By so doing, the person is believed to have done what was ethically correct. Doctors should help sick people.In this case, sickness refers to any abnormal functioning or dysfunctional of any body organ. Those people who cannot produce viable sperm cells should seek medical attention and the doctors have a duty and obligation to run across that such people can get children. The theory therefore justifies Dr Kerkis and Dr Shroffs actions. It is a doctors obligation to ensure that all incurable diseases a nd terminal conditions are adequately dealt with. The casuist ethical theory is based on the assumption that the current dilemma in question can be successfully solved in a similar way to previously solved dilemmas.This theory therefore compares the current ethical problem with past and similar ethical dilemmas that were successfully solved. It therefore justifies Dr Kerkis and Dr Shroffs actions since their previous works as medical practitioners have been reported to bare good fruits. It however fails to acknowledge that a similar ethical dilemma may not have been witnessed before. (http//www. medscape. com/viewarticle/505222_2 http//www. bio. davidson. edu/people/kabernd/Indep/carainbow/Theories. htm ) The utilitarianism ethical theory supports any choice that produces the most benefit to most people.Such a choice is seen to be ethically correct. This theory therefore foresees the outcome of an act and judges it based on the benefits that are likely to accrue. There are two type s of utilitarianism. These include act utilitarian and rule utilitarianism. According to rainbow c, In act utilitarianism, a person performs the acts that benefit the most people, regardless of personal feelings or the societal constraints such as laws. Rule utilitarianism, however, takes into account the law and is concerned with fairness.A rule utilitarian seeks to benefit the most people but through the fairest and most just mean available. Therefore, added benefits of rule utilitarianism are that it values justice and includes beneficence at the same time (http//www. bio. davidson. edu/people/kabernd/Indep/carainbow/Theories. htm ) both or more of these ethical theories should be combined in order to make the best ethical decision. For instance, I would solve Dr Kerkis dilemma by applying utilitarianism ethical theory, rights ethical theory and casuist ethical theory.I would also solve Dr Shroffs ethical dilemma by applying rights ethical theory, utilitarianism ethical theory and law ethical theory. (http//courses. cs. vt. edu/cs3604/lib/Ethics/notes. html ) Conclusion All the ethical theories have common goals that must be achieved for them to be successful. These common goals are the previously discussed ethical principles. It is important to realize that different points are express by the theories that help people to arrive at a decision that is ethically correct. Different people usually use ethical theories in a different way depending on their individual experiences.The theories and principles of ethics lay a good foundation of analyzing actions since they guide people in making ethical decisions. This means that whether Dr Kerkis and/or Dr Shroff are justified or not to proceed with their work or not depends on which principle as well as the ethical theory an individual bases his /her ethical analysis. References Rainbow C, Descriptions of Ethical Theories and Principles, Retrieved eighth August, 2008, From http//www. bio. davidson. edu/people /kabernd/Indep/carainbow/Theories. htmLancaster University, Ethical theories Retrieved 4th August, 2008. From http//www. lancs. ac. uk/fss/resources/ethics/theories. htm Ethical theories compared http//www. trinity. edu/cbrown/intro/ethical_theories. html relations between utilitarian, deontological, and peripatetic ethical theories Lawrence M. Hinman, Introduction A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory Excerpted from Lawrence M. Hinman, Contemporary Moral Issues, second ed. (Prentice-Hall, 1999). Ethical theories Retrieved 1st August 2008, From http//courses. cs. vt. edu/cs3604/lib/Ethics/notes. htmlEthical Theories, Principles, and Decision-Making Models, Retrieved 3rd August, 2008 From http//www. medscape. com/viewarticle/505222_2 Allan J. Kimmel, 1988, Ethics and Values in Applied Social Research Ethics and Values in Applied Social Research, SAGE. Stem cell treatment lets Aussie breathe http//www. news. com. au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23768047-5012754,00. html Perth now Sunday ti mes, July 7th, Mice to replace men as sperm donors http//search. news. com. au/search? us=ndmperthnow&sid=5012760&as=NEWS. WORLD. CANDSAMERICA&ac=TST&q=Mice%20to%20replace%20men%20as%20sperm%20donors