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David Hume-emotivism Is to an ought Suicide is not immoral “The life of a man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster” We redirect rivers—why can’t we redirect our own blood No big deal Thomas Aquinas- natural law Purposes/functions ought to be fulfilled -a duty to live Reason and self-evident truth -right to life Right to liberty Natural law tradition is generally opposed to suicide Contrary to gods plan/gif Sex is love and joining together to reproduce Marriage is part of being natural J.S. Mills- utilitarianism Does it promote greatest good for all? Can death produce happiness? Is anyone harmed in suicide? Suicide would impact the happiness Sexual morality should be about producing the greatest happiness for the greatest # of people Prostitution as the worst because women sacrifice, and it is corrupting men Kant- deontology Act only on the maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law Suicide is wrong- violates respect for persons and cannot be universalized “I cannot therefore, dispose in any way of a man in my own person so as to mutilate him, to damage him or kill him” Does not respect personhood and cannot be universalized PRO LIFE Respect persons Lying and coercion in sex are wrong Respect, Duty, Universalize Libertarian  Leave people alone to enjoy their own sex- so long as they are not harming others Seneca Mere living is not good but living well. Accordingly, the wise man will live as long as he ought, not as long as he can

Pope John Paul II- natural law Suicide is a rejection of God’s absolute sovereignty over life and death Contrary to gods plan/gif Physician Assisted Suicide -doctor provides drugs -patient kills herself Active Euthanasia -doctor kills the patient Passive Euthanasia -withdraw or withhold are and patient is allowed to die Judith Jarvis Thomson  Right to life and liberty  Autonomy and consent in medical ethics  “philosopher’s brief” Nel Noddings  Apply golden rule o How do you properly love your neighbor as yourself in cases of euthanasia?  Need better “care”  Caring about patient and caregivers

JAHI MCMATH DEAD OR ALIVE??????

An ontological puzzle when are you dead?  Whole brain death: o Permanent and total loss of all brain function  Coma o Unconscious but asleep, poor brain stem function  Persistent Vegetative State o Loss of conscious function o But brain stem activities persist Peter Singer  Cognitively disabled infants may be euthanized  Parallel with abortion  Utilitarian concern for suffering- and “sentience”

Principal of Double Effect  Morally wrong to intend to do something bad as a means to an end; it is acceptable, however, to do something morally permissible for the purpose of achieving some good, while knowing that it also may have a bad secondary effect. o Act must be morally permissible o Person acting must intend a good end o Good results must outweigh the bad ones  Problem of complexity of cases and mixed (or hidden) motives

J. Gay-Williams  Euthanasia is against natural law (against the natural instinct to preserve life)  “Suffering is a natural part of life with values for the individual and for others that we should not overlook.”  “passive” euthanasia is not really euthanasia  The underlying diseases kills the patient-not the one withholding or withdrawing care  Possibility if euthanasia may cause people to give up hope and ask for death too early  Corrupting influence on medical professionals  Misdiagnosis  Slippery slope

James Rachels UTILITARIAM  Kills kid in bathtub or watches kid drown o Both bad, passive and active, so both are morally wrong Judith Jarvis Thomson  right to life and liberty  nobody is morally required to make large sacrifices, of health, of all other interests and concerns, of all other duties and commitments, for nine years, or even nine months, in order to keep another person alive. Don Marquis  “Majority of deliberate abortions are seriously immoral.”  “Future of standard fetus includes a set of experiences, projects, activities, and such which are identical with the futures of young children” Jeremy Bentham  Illegal prostitution produces bad outcomes  Legal prostitution would help regulate and control prostitution Carol Pateman  Prostitution is not mutual, pleasurable exchange of the use of bodies, but the unilateral use of a woman’s body by a man in exchange for money

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Why do men demand that satisfaction of a natural appetite must take the form of the public access to women’s bodies in the capitalist market in exchange for money?

John Finnis: Natural Law  Against law argument against homosexual marriage  Purpose of sex/marriage is uniting in procreative way  Non-marital (vaginal) sex is wrong  Marital intercourse allows spouses to experience marriage as single reality with two blessings: children and mutual affection  Non-marital intercourse ( including homosexual) cannot enjoy these blessings, so it is immoral  Non-marital sex is merely instrumental  Sterile married couples the act of union is there even if unable to reproduce John Corvino UTILITARIAn  Sexual morality us about consent and pleasure  Nothing inherently wrong with homosexuality  Natural law account is flawed  Concept of natural in natural law is not philosophically adequate  Unnatural according to this view is simply a term of abuse, a fancy word for “disgusting,” a way to mask visceral reactions as well-considered moral judgements. WE CAN DO BETTER Anthony Kennedy  Liberty presumes an autonomy of self that includes freedoms of thought, belief, expression, and certain intimate conduct Antonin Scalia  Many Americans do not want persons who openly engage in homosexual conduct as partners in their business, as scoutmasters for their children, as teachers in their children’s schools, or as boarder in their home. They view this as protecting themselves and their families from a lifestyle to be immoral and destructive. Obergefell V Hodges Four principles 1. The right to personal choice regarding marriage is inherent in the concept of individual autonomy 2. The right to marry is fundamental because it supports a two-person union unlike any other in its importance to the committed individuals. 3. Marriage safeguards children and families and thus draws meaning from related rights of childrearing, procreation, and education. Without the recognition, stability, and predictability marriage offers, children suffer the stigma of knowing their

families are somehow lesser. They also suffer the significant material costs of being raised by unmarried parents, relegated to a more difficult and uncertain family life. 4. Marriage is a keystone of the Nation’s social order... There is no difference between same- and opposite-sex couples with respect to this principle... It is demeaning to lock same-sex couples out of a central institution of the Nation’s society, for they too may aspire to the transcendent purposes of marriage. John Roberts 

For those millennia, across all those civilizations, “marriage” referred to only one relationship: the union of the man and the woman… It arose in the nature of things to meet a vital need: ensuring that children are conceived by mother and father committed to raising them in the stable conditions of a lifelong relationship…

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It is striking how much of the majority’s reasoning would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage.

Theories on Gay Marriage    

Libertarian: OK if informed consent of adults Utilitarian: What are the consequences; and for whom? Kantian Deontology: Can it be universalized? Does it respect persons? Natural Law: Does is serve a natural function: to unite and procreate?

Therapy: restores normal function Enhancement: provides more than normal function Theories on Drugs    

Libertarian: Free to do what we want, if not harming others Utilitarian: Greatest happiness for greatest number? o Fetal alcohol, side effects, addiction Kantian Deontology: sobriety and autonomy; respect for rationality Natural Law: sobriety/natural health as primary value but medicinal help?

Should scientific research and technological innovation be limited by moral concerns? Precautionary Principle: we ought to do our best to avoid risks and harms when exploring new technologies Ex: brain-computer interfaces, implants, performance and mood enhancement, super longevity, genetic research

Moral Perspective: Emotivism Yuck Factor (Kass and Emotivism) 

Human-animal chimeras

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Super-longevity

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Cyborgs, artificial humanity o Ex: cloning confuses family relationships 

Father of the clone is also the twin brother

Consequentialist Considerations 

Health benefits for humans (disabled)

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Unintended consequences (disease resistant bacteria)

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Precautionary principle

Moral Perspective: Utility 

Greater Good: o Long vs short term benefits o Unknown long-term risks o Will affluent/elite benefit at expense of poor? o Do non-human beings count o Eugenics?

Moral Perspective: Dignity 

Dignity of persons and dignity of Natural World( kant and natural law) o Intrinsic values in nature o Does biotechnology dis-respect for the disabled

o Do engineered person have souls o Can we universalize this o Does cloning designer babies repsect dignity of persons?

Moral Perspective: Naturalism 

Worry about “playing God” o Messing with mother nature is hubris o Are we smart enough to predict outcomes? o Should we passively accept the world and our bodies o Should we help evolution?

Moral perspective: Liberty And Choice 

Liberty and individual choice (kant and natural law) o Don’t limit free choices o Diversity and pluralism are good o Do gree choices produce negative consequences? o Problem of normalizing these choices

Bio conservatism 

Leon Kass: don’t mess with nature (natural law)

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Acknowledge mortality and finitude

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Work and strive to be better

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Learn to suffer and care for suffering

Transhumanism

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Bostrom: provide people with freedom to do what they want with their own bodies(libertarianism)

Transhumanist Declaration: 

We advocate the well-being of all sentience, including humans, non-human animals, and any future artificial intellects, modified life forms, or other intelligences to which technological and scientific advance may give rise.

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We favor allowing individuals wide personal choice over how they enable their lives. This includes use of techniques that may be developed to assist memory, concentration, and mental energy; life extension therapies; reproductive choice technologies; cryonics procedures; and many other possible human modification and enhancement technologies.

Connections 

Abortion, euthanasia, birth control, transgender, etc o as biotechnological issues

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Cloning, genetic engineering, stem cell, life-extension o As issues related to abortion, sexual (reproductive) ethics, and end-of-life conservations

Chapter 18 Bioengineering Biotechnology Leon Kass: modesty born of gratitude for the world’s given-ness may enable us to recognize that not everything in the world is open to any use we may desire or devise Nick Bostrom: Had mother nature been a real parent, she would have been in jail for child abuse and murder UTILITARIAN Transhuman/posthuman:

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beyond ordinary human, maybe we will never die, maybe we will defeat illness/suffering/etc. (BOSTROM) Libertarian.

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Pro-therapy, and pro-enhancement.

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Screw death, try to overcome it

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Human enhancement

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“fuck that” what good is greed?

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Drugs to help concentrate, enhancement technology, cryonic procedure (deep freeze)

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In the future, things will be better (optimistic)

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Natures over, we’re in nature 2.0

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Promethean project of creating a new human nature

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Worries about biotechnology are sci-fi hyperbole

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Freedom is key= protect freedom (libertarian)

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Nature is not all good—and it should be improved by using science Morphological freedom: freedom to change yourself in any way you want Reproductive freedom: freedom to engineer your offspring

Bioconservatism: 

how dare you go against nature (KASS)

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Ordinary normal reproduction

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Loving relationship of care

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Our own deaths and disability (decay and deteriorate)

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Therapy is important

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Enhancement is wrong

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Acknowledge/affirm mortality (we do die)

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Work and strive for better

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Learn to suffer and care for the suffering

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Miss-use of resources

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Other biomedical problems are more important than enhancement, longevity, etc.

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Accept limits: aging, disabilities, death, grief

Repugnance: Disgust  The wisdom of the reaction is yuck  Cloning confuses family relationships

Consequentialist Considerations  Precautionary Principle: be careful with new technology o We have to be sure there are no negative side effects Eugenics: breed better human beings (utilitarian is for this if we can produce better humans, except it involves killing off other humans or sterilizing them so they cannot reproduce) Dignity: 

If we engineer offspring are we turning them into instruments to be manipulated

Moral Perspective: Naturalism 

Worry about “playing God” o Messing with mother nature is hubris o Are we smart enough to predict outcomes? o Should we passively accept the world and our bodies o Should we help evolution?

o Anthropocy: we are in charge of the planet because we have helped wipe out certain species Essay: Begin with a theory and agree with a person and explain why. Details matter Write about cloning in essay for extra points Pick a side and continue Show what the hell you’re talking about ] MC: Deontology means:

Greatest happiness Obey gods rules Do your duty...