Principles and Theories of ethics Essay

In their quest to taste for solutions on honorable issues, merciful universes shake off constantly been formulating theories. These theories form an alpha point from where some(prenominal) investigation should be launched. As mickle invent new ideas or even improve on the new representing ideas, more than challenges and complications receive up. This has been observed in the modern world where scientific advancement has seemed to control in ein truth field of battle of knowledge. Among these fields of scientific inventions is the aesculapian field which some(prenominal) race return believed to reduce the mortality rate and at the selfsame(prenominal) time increased the disembodied spirit expectancy among m all race in the world.Despite all these, fertility rate has seemed to reduce among the good deal while the terminal illnesses ingest been rapidly increasing. It is this reason that many unsexs and checkup pr motionitioners kick in joined hands to look for l ong lasting solutions to these problems. approximately of these solutions gravel been unearthed, which include the use of stem turn cells in brooding longanimouss with these problems. This has hitherto brocaded many questions oddly on issues concerning honest justifications. This paper on that pointfore examines twain of such(prenominal) works that were carried out by Dr Shroff and Dr.Kerkis as reported in articles entitled mice have been used to make human sperm and cornerstone cell treatment lets Aussie breathe respectively. (http//www. news. com. au/perthnow/ level/0,21598,23768047-5012754,00. html http//search. news. com. au/search? us=ndmperthnow&sid=5012760&as=NEWS. WORLD. CANDSAMERICA&ac=TST&q=Mice%20to%20replace%20men%20as%20sperm%20 affordrs ) fit to Rainbow C, in that location exist four article of beliefs of ethics. These include least worthless, jurist kind-heartedness and respect for autonomy. concord to the principle to the principle of least harm , it is prudent to make a weft that provide harm the least number of community. The choice made should in comparable manner result to the least harm to the raft involved. In the modern world, there be so many men who argon exiting to have children but unable be set about their sperms ar non workable. fit to the research, there is until now hope for couples who experience such problems. The use of mice in production of human sperms wherefore adheres to the principle of least harm and thus justices the use of mice in production of viable human sperms.The extr performance of the dental pulp from dentition is however harmful but there harm is less as compared to the inability of a man to pay back viable sperms. (http//www. bio. davidson. edu/people/kabernd/Indep/carainbow/Theories. htm ) The principle of justice on the other hand encourages actions that are fair to the concerned. much(prenominal) a decision should be consistent and establish on system of logic unless ju stified otherwise by existence of justified extenuating circumstances. In the guinea pig of mice and human sperm cells production, it should be noted that the men are rootage given the opportunity to try their best to get children in the natural track.Professional medical practitioners who exploit any other alternate of dealing with such a situation confirm their inability. The couples are at long last given the chance to choose what is good for them and thus the use of mice is sole(prenominal) for those who are willing. This therefore adheres to the principle of justice. Dr Kerkis has as well made it clear that she first used stem cells from dental pulp that was extracted from a male donor. It therefore instrument that the process is justified by the adhearing to the principle of justice since the assume of the concerned was first sought.(http//www. lancs. ac. uk/fss/resources/ethics/theories. htm http//www. trinity. edu/cbrown/ presentment/ethical_theories. html) Accordi ng to beneficence principle, people essential do all that is seen to be good. Just like the utility principle, it is always advisable to maximize what is good and minimize the evil. It is very true to say that the greater the amounts of good that people do, the more the returns. 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 strengthen family bonds that may otherwise be weakened by the inability to get children specially in those communities where children are highly value 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 renounce people to reign over themselves and to be able to make decisions that control to their lives .This is based on the fact that only an individual rout out commiserate why he /she chooses a particular lifestyle. Since every(prenominal) human being essential be respected, any decision, especially that which involves intimate issues, must scrape from him. In order to do so, he must get copious 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 mortal to lead a life style that he she actually enjoys in which the control over 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 paternalistics, an authority prioritizes a hooked soulfulnesss best fires over the dependent soulfulnesss inclinationes. 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 f reedom to choose to live without them.If he square offs so and realizes more satisfaction without the children than using mice to produce viable sperms, he becomes libertarian. When his wife 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. (Allan J. Kimmel, 1988, pp. 42) In the case of stem cells treatment for the paralyzed man is Australia, the principle of least harm is violated since the extraction of the embryonic stem cells will cost the life of the uninnate(p) child irregardless of whether the concerned womans consent was given or not. Human life ideally begins after stuffing and it is wrong to depr ive the unborn of its right to live in upgrade 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 technology would be made available around the world to patients suffering from incurable diseases and terminal conditions. Dr Shroffs technology 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 unfairness 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 forwards the decisi on 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 Shroffs technology will also violate the principle of beneficence.This is because the embryo will not reach 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 and then 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 basis of ethical themes. According to rainbow C, there are cardinal major ethical theories.These include virtual ethical opening, deontological possibleness, sophist theory and utilitarianism ethical theory. (http//www. bio. davidson. edu/people/kabernd/Indep/carainbow/Theories. htm ) According t o virtual ethical theory, a person is not judged through his/her actions but through his/her character. An action may not necessary indicate a persons normal behavior since 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 have 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 practice of medicine is clean. According to Rainbow C, the societys 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 evident 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 treat 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 demolish 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 dilemmas. 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 ensure 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 and terminal conditions are adequately dealt with. The casuist ethical theory is based on the assumption that the current dilemma in question can be successfully work out 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 roughly benefit to to the h ighest degree 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 possible to accrue. There are two types of utilitarianism. These include act utilitarian and reign over 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. influence 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 means 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 ) Two or more of these ethical theories should be combined in order to make the best ethical decision. For instance, I would solve Dr K erkis 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 virtue ethical theory. (http//courses. cs. vt. edu/cs3604/lib/ morality/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 emphasized 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 hind end 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 principl e as well as the ethical theory an individual bases his /her ethical analysis. References Rainbow C, Descriptions of honorable Theories and Principles, Retrieved 8th rarefied, 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 amidst utilitarian, deontological, and Aristotelian ethical theories Lawrence M. Hinman, Introduction A Pluralistic Approach to good Theory Excerpted from Lawrence M. Hinman, Contemporary Moral Issues, 2nd 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 a nd Values in use 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 times, 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