MARQUEZ Questions for the Third Exam

Marquez
Marquez:
1. In bio-medical ethics and in both “beginning-of-life and end-of-life issues/dilemmas, the concept of human dignity often figures in. Do a conceptual analysis of the concept of “human dignity”. How is this concept understood in different contexts or with reference to different issues (give examples)? How do you think should this concept be understood?

2. After careful considerations of the various ethical theories/views we discussed, what “personal moral system or code” can you come up with and which you can adopt? Be sure to talk about the values, precepts/ideas, and other elements that should comprise this “personal moral system or code”. Include your conception of freedom and accountability in this given moral system and your view of what it means to be a moral individual.

1.)

In Kantian ethics, the term “human dignity” is explained in how a person fulfills the duties that he has, since Kantian ethics focuses on the good will and to achieve this good will, one must be able to do his duty as a person. This then becomes the case that when one has a higher duty in life; one has a greater sense of dignity.
In Utilitarian ethics however, the emphasis lies on the majority of the society. A person has dignity when his actions are for the good of the greater part of the masses. A good example of this is the duties of the terrorist and the soldiers. They risk their own lives for the greater cause of their people and this is what gives them dignity.
The case is different however in Virtue ethics because in Virtue ethics, the concept of “human dignity” lies within the person himself, neither in the duties that he fulfill, nor in the consequences that he make. This is known in Virtue ethics as “eudaimonia” or the good life. Good life meaning that a person has eudaimonia is in eternal search for his meaning in life. This is different than consequentialism in the fact that in the former, one does not know his purpose than in the latter.

2.

My personal concept would be like those of the existentialist ethics because of the fact that I, myself do not believe in fate or destiny and that I am who I am because of the choices that I made in my previous years. The perception in existentialist ethics is that “existence precedes essence” and in this idea, man exists, whether or not he has a pre-determined destiny or plan also resides in me. Sometimes, I also feel that burden or anguish since I know for a fact that I am the one to be blamed or I am the one who causes my situation at the present, but in contrast, I am happy because I am the one who made myself.The notion also that freedom lies in the fact that one could make a decision without being affected by neither the virtues that he has nor the tradition that he has acquired in his environment. This relates freedom to facticity wherein one cannot control some of the things that happen to him.Now, once he has truly been free from this then one becomes the true self or that he is a person who does not lean towards tradition or customs..