Case Study: Creating an Ethics Case Study

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WEEK TWO WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT CASE STUDIES

#1 EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM

Philosopher Peter Singer argues in “Famine, Affluence, and Morality” that if we

can donate some of our money to save other people’s lives without comparable

harm to ourselves, then we morally ought to do it (Singer, 1972). William

MacAskill is a young philosopher who attempts to put this reasoning into practice.

He helped start a movement called “effective altruism,” in which people give most

of the money that they make to help to save people from diseases and death in less

developed parts of the world (Lewis-Kraus, 2022).

MacAskill himself lives in relative poverty ($26k British pounds per year) and

gives the rest to help others. He estimates that a life can be saved for about $4000

(Lewis-Kraus, p. 48).

ETHICAL QUESTION: Do we have a moral obligation to donate some of our

money to save other people’s lives?

References:

Lewis-Kraus, G. (2022). Do better. New Yorker.

Singer, P. (1972). Famine, affluence, and morality. Philosophy & Public Affairs,

1(3), pp. 229-243. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2265052

#2 STEALING OR RESCUING

In March of 2017, animal activists entered into a major hog raising facility in

southern Utah, observed the conditions of the animals, and removed two piglets

that they considered at high risk of death due to malnutrition, disease, and neglect.

They took the piglets (that they named “Lily” and “Lizzie”) to an animal sanctuary

to receive care.

The owner of the hog facility, Smithfield Foods, saw this as an act of theft, since

the piglets were its property, and the activists did not have permission to take them.

The activists saw it as an act of rescue, similar to breaking a car window to rescue

a dog trapped in a car on a hot day.

In October of 2022, two of the activists stood trial for their actions. After

deliberation, the jury found the defendants not guilty. Animal advocates saw this as

a vindication of the “right to rescue.”

Law professor Justin Marceau stated, “Prosecutors would have you believe this

case is about burglary, but in reality, it’s a case about whether people can rescue

animals in dire conditions that are now commonplace in our food system … I can’t

think of a more significant animal law case in recent history” (Jacobs, 2022). On

the contrary side, Smithfield’s vice president replied, “This verdict is very

disappointing as it may encourage anyone opposed to raising animals for food to

vandalize farms” (Bolotnikova, 2022).

ETHICAL QUESTION: Is it moral to trespass onto private property in order

to rescue animals at risk of dying?

References:

Bolotnikova, M. (2022). Activists acquitted in trial for taking piglets from

Smithfield Foods. The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2022/10/08/smithfield-

animal-rights-piglets-trial/

Jacobs, A. (2022). Animal rights activists are acquitted in Smithfield piglet case.

New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/science/animals-rights-

piglets-smithfield.html

#3 Transportation and Climate Activism:

Greta Thunberg is an internationally famous climate activist from Sweden. Her

intensity and passion have been an inspiration to climate activists around the

world. When she came to speak at a large climate conference in New York city,

she crossed the Atlantic in a fast zero-carbon yacht (Law, 2019). Many climate

activists around the world, however, do not have access to such means of transport

and organize and travel to events using personal vehicles.

Some might say that this is hypocritical and seems to demonstrate the impossibility

of living without the use of fossil fuels. Others may say that it is justified to make

these types of concessions in order to do good (as opposed to using them for less

important purposes or not taking these types of actions at all).

ETHICAL QUESTION: Is it moral to use immoral means to achieve a good

end?

References:

Law, T. (2019). Greta Thunberg, climate activist 16, arrives in N.Y. with a

message for Trump. New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/nyregion/greta-thunberg-new-york.html

#4 Stealing to Feed One’s Family

The book Les Misérables was in part based on real events, when author Victor

Hugo witnessed a man being hauled away by the police for stealing a loaf of bread

to feed his family (Martyris, 2017). The example of stealing bread is sometimes

literal, and sometimes is used as a metaphor for doing what is necessary to meet

one’s daily needs. As simple as the example is, it is an example that illustrates how

different moral theories can come to very different conclusions about what is right

to do (and why).

ETHICAL QUESTION: Is it moral to steal in order to feed one’s family?

References

Martyris, N. (2017). Let them eat bread: The theft that helped inspire ‘Les

Miserables’. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/03/20/520459332/let-

them-eat-bread-the-theft-that-helped-inspire-les-miserables

#5 SAVIOR SIBLINGS

The book My Sister’s Keeper (2004), written by Jodi Picoult tells the story of a

sibling who sues her parents for medical emancipation after they request she

donate one of her kidneys to her older sister who is dying from leukemia. A few

years earlier, in August of 2000, Adam Nash was born. Adam was conceived

using “embryo selection” in order to save the life of his sister, Molly.

ETHICAL QUESTION: Is it moral for parents to conceive a child in order to

save the life of a sibling?

References

https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/almost-two-decades-later-doctor-reflects-

using-embryo-selection-save-young-girls-life

https://www.zmescience.com/science/what-are-designer-babies-a-healthcare-

wonder-or-an-ethical-horror/

#6 TORTURE AND TERRORISM

The use of torture by governments and regimes has occurred around the world and

throughout various eras of human history. Since 9/11 and the War on Terrorism

that followed, the use of torture has come into greater scrutiny with some

administrations using it to extract what they deem to be life-saving information and

other administrations setting policies against the use of torture.

The topic of torture is complex and involves many ethical issues ranging from the

deprivation of human rights and the infliction of pain and suffering to the need to

acquire life-saving information in situations known as the “ticking time bomb”

scenarios.

ETHICAL QUESTION: Is it moral to use torture to extract life-saving

information from a known terrorist?

References

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/torture/

https://www.e-ir.info/2020/09/16/is-the-use-of-torture-ever-morally-permissible/

https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/on-the-ethics-of-torture/

#7 ANIMALS AND MEDICAL RESEARCH

Animals have been used in medical research throughout human history starting as

far back as 500 BC and continuing to the present day. In the past century, with the

advancement of various technologies, the use of animals has been both

controversial and the source of treatments or cures for devastating diseases such as

the use of insulin to control diabetes that resulted from surgical experiments with

dogs.

ETHICAL QUESTION: Is it moral to use animals in research designed to

cure or treat diseases that are devastating to humans?

References

https://bioethics.hms.harvard.edu/journal/animal-moral-standing

https://med.stanford.edu/animalresearch/why-animal-research.html

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1923/banting/lecture/

#8 BUSINESSES AND RACIAL BIAS

In 2018 at a Starbucks in Philadelphia, two black men were waiting for a business

associate. While waiting, one of the men asked to use the bathroom and was

denied because neither man had ordered anything. One of the men had been

coming to this same Starbucks for many years, but a store manager called the

police who arrived quickly and descended upon the store. The police asked them

men to leave and when they declined to do so, they were arrested for trespassing.

The incident quickly shot into the national spotlight after a video of the arrest went

viral. A few weeks later, Starbucks shut down its stores for in-house racial bias

training.

ETHICAL QUESTION: Do businesses have an obligation to provide racial

bias training to their employees?

References

https://hbr.org/2021/09/unconscious-bias-training-that-works