The film American History X deals with a moral concern. You will briefly summarize this film (250 words). Then, you will analyze how the film treats this moral issue. Use the text to support your analysis (about 500 words).
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chapter7.pptxPersonhood, Rights and Justice
Chapter 7
Kant = any being capable of rational thinking
More difficult than initially appears
There are creatures very close genetically to humans.
There are individuals who do not have all human physical characteristics / mental capacities.
What about parents who screen fetus for severe disabilities?
What is a Human Being?
Often, the “other” is characterized as something less than human (the other tribe, other races, etc.).
Gender issues (Greeks = male is the ideal human; women are less than ideal).
What is a Human Being?
Many social thinkers prefer the term “person.”
Avoids “human” as biological term.
Person = someone capable of psychological and social interaction with others, capable on deciding on action (thus being responsible for that action).
A person is a MORAL AGENT.
Most societies have excluded some or all of the following: slaves, women, children, foreigners, criminals, prisoners of war.
From Human to Person
Western world: all humans are persons with inalienable rights.
This is not recognized throughout the world.
Children, women, caste systems
Page 322: serial killer who targeted prostitutes, drug users
Can discrimination, racism, sexism, etc. be outlawed as an attitude?
What about murderers themselves?
Personhood
Children
In many places, fathers have supreme rights over family.
Extreme abuse, often overlooked
Must balance what they want and what they need.
Do not have the legal rights or responsibilities of adults.
What about children who commit crimes?
Personhood
Doctors who must decide who lives and who dies.
Who goes on transplant lists?
To what extent should we interfere with genetic code?
What about medical knowledge that has been gained from unethical practices (Nazi scientists)?
Science and Moral Responsibility
Do we endeavor to create healthy babies?
“Customized” children.
Will natural-born children become a new underclass.
Genetic Engineering
Hold promise as a way to repair and replace damaged organs.
What about harvesting and cloning stem cells from embryos?
Must be harvested within first two weeks of fetal development.
Even if life of fetus is intrinsically valuable, what about the people who could be saved from these procedures?
Stem Cell Research
Therapeutic
Duplicating stem cells to insert them into an organ (or regrow that organ)
Reproductive
Duplicating entire individual
Human reproductive cloning
Overpopulation already an issue
Identity of the clone
Clones might be considered expendable
Greater risk of abnormal traits
Cloning
Natural rights: right one is born with as a human
Thomas Hobbes: natural right is the right for anyone to do what it takes to stay alive; we never give up a right to defend ourselves and we never have to consent to action that will harm us.
John Locke: three inalienable rights
Life
Liberty
Property
Rights and Equality
Jeremy Bentham: rights are human invention and do not occur in nature; no such thing as “natural rights.” We must recognize all rights as legal rather than natural. Goal=to create as happy a society as possible.
Rights and Equality
Fundamental equality: Declaration of Independence. People should be treated as equals by their government and legal system.
Social equality: People are equal within a social setting (such as the economy or politics). Includes right to vote, run for office, etc. Does not mean social status or income should be equal.
Equal treatment for equals: treat people of the same social group equally.
Equality
Treat equals equally and unequals unequally.
Some may need special assistance to reach the level of equals.
Someone who breaks the law becomes unequal in need of punishment.
Equality
Specifies what shouldn’t be done to you (rights of noninterference).
Locke:
Nobody’s life should be interfered with for no good reason.
Nobody’s liberty should be interfered with.
Nobody’s property should be interfered with.
Note that this doesn’t mean that you have the right to be given these things, especially property, but that nobody can take them from you.
Negative Rights
Marx: an individual has the right to have his/her needs met.
Food, shelter, clothing, meaningful work, education, health care.
Positive Rights
Distributive justice: how to distribute the goods of the society fairly.
Rawls:
Happiness of the majority?
As fair as possible to everyone.
Veil of ignorance: imagine when rules take effect you don’t know your position in life. Will tend to be as fair as possible (birthday cake example).
Justice
Forward-looking justice: sees the purpose as creating a fair system of distribution in the future, regardless of the past.
Backward-looking justice: how to fix the problems of the past? We must identify causes before we can work on solutions.
Justice
Restorative: justice should attempt to repair the harm done to the victim. People as victims, not the state. Focuses on the future. “Making it right.”
Retributive justice: crime as a violation of rules. Victim is the state. Punishment rather than “making it right.”
Criminal Justice
Deterrence: may make the criminal and/others change their minds about doing this again. Punishment is swift and strict. Singapore is a good example.
Rehabilitation: making a better person out of the criminal
Incapacitation: punishment should keep the criminal off the streets and the public safe (jail, chemical castration)
* All of these approaches have to consider social utility.
Five Approaches to Punishment
Retribution: punishment is just because the person has committed and crime. Punishment should be in proportion to the crime. No concept of social utility.
Vengeance: also seeks to punish but different from retribution in the following ways:
Retribution based on logic; vengeance based on emotion.
Retribution is public; vengeance often private.
Vengeance often exceeds the damage done by the criminal.
Five Approaches to Punishment
