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- Government Involvement Bioethics: Environmental Ethics Go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GviNafYdS4 to view a video covering information about environmental ethics and how it relates to morality. Reference Leopold Foundation. (2012, June, 3). Bioethics and environmental value- How we reason about things that morally matter [Video]. Retrieved from the YouTube Web site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GviNafYdS4 Social Contract Theory Go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHyn8MWssWc to view a video showing social contract theory from the conservative and liberal points of view. This video is approximately 7 minutes in length. Reference Storm Clouds Gathering. (2013, May, 30). The truth about the social contract [Video]. Retrieved from the YouTube Web site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHyn8MWssWc Rousseau and Social Contract Go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M40waSvXwBU to view a video that covers Rousseau's view on social contract theory. This video is approximately 12 minutes in length. Reference Alfred, J. (2010, October, 22). The classics: Rousseau -- Social contract [Video]. Retrieved from the YouTube Web site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M40waSvXwBU Laws and Ethics Law is a system of principles and rules of human conduct prescribed by society and enforced by public authority. This definition applies to both criminal law and civil law. Ethics is the study of standards of conduct and moral judgment. When referring to a profession, ethics is the group's principles or code. Some may view the link between law and ethics as one to one—what is lawful is ethical and what is unlawful is unethical. This is not necessarily true. The law is the minimum performance that is expected in society. Professions demand that members comply with the law but simultaneously hold members to a higher standard. Thus, a profession's code of ethics may require its group's members to act in ways that are different from members of society. In this presentation, we examine ethics in the health professions by focusing first on human development and the foundation of law, and second, on reasoning in the world of values. Human Value Development and the Foundation of Law Moral philosophies and derivative principles provide a framework to hone and use a personal ethic to analyze and solve ethical problems. Like philosophers, clinicians and administrators are unlikely to agree fully with only one moral philosophy. Most will be eclectic in developing or reconsidering a personal ethic. In general, however, the principles of respect for persons, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice are useful in defining relationships among patients, managers, and organizations. These principles may carry different weights and take precedence over one another, depending on the issue being evaluated. Justice requires, however, that they be consistently ordered and weighted when similar problems are considered. Moral motivation, or motivation to do the right thing, may come from many sources and take many forms. Our system of law, for example, is a set of determinants which is in place to shape the behaviors of people. Like ethics, law is guided by fundamental principles. The first of these is a concern for justice and fairness. The second is plasticity and change. Although the law from the outside is seemingly solid, it is a shifting process that reacts to its environment. The third principle is that acts are judged on the universal standard of the reasonable person and the fourth principle is that of individual rights and responsibilities. In other words, law like ethics, shifts, reacts, maintains fluidity and depends on a system of human reasoning and moral values. Reasoning in the World of Values Five theories of moral philosophy are used rather extensively in Western culture: teleology, deontology, natural law, virtue ethics, and casuistry. These moral philosophies provide a basis to study ethics and help determine or reason the moral rightness or wrongness of a decision. Teleology judges actions by their consequences, thus their utility or disutility. Utility theory is, in fact, the most prominent modern theory of morality. Deontology holds that the end result is unimportant because human beings have duties to one another as moral agents, and these duties take precedence over consequences. Deontology promotes practicing the Golden Rule—do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Natural law states that ethics must be grounded in a concern for human good and be guided by rational thought to do what is right, which may be reflected in statutes. Casuistry uses case-based reasoning and a body of experience to lead toward a consensus and greater certainty in identifying morally right decisions. Finally, virtue ethics implies a character trait in which one can be trusted to act in a moral way. Ethical Issues in Society Introduction Small Town Big State University is considering a proposal to eliminate the SAT as an application requirement for admission. The main reason for this change is that the university wants to curb the dramatic decrease in minority enrollment. Currently, the number of all non-Caucasian students is approximately one fourth of the university population. Many studies conducted by a consortium of universities have identified the SAT as the primary reason for low minority acceptance rates in the university system. Studies have shown that the SAT exam is skewed in favor of higher income families because such students are able to enroll in expensive SAT preparation courses. Therefore, in lieu of the SAT admission criteria, the university proposals depend heavily on academic achievement such as grades and other forms of achievement. Critics believe that the SAT is the most objective method of determining the similarities and differences in students because the schools are not consistent throughout the country. In addition, many of these critics believe that elimination of the test in the admission process makes the process more subjective and is an unethical form of affirmative action (Cases for the Seventh, n.d.). Do you think that Small Town Big State University should eliminate the SAT in the admission process? Is this proposal affirmative action? Discrimination On July 4, 1776, the founding fathers of the United States of America signed the Declaration of Independence. Although this document clearly provided that "all men" are created equal, the history of the United States has demonstrated that theory is not always sufficient to overcome prejudice. Discrimination is an extreme form of prejudice, which happens when one prejudges another person (usually negatively). When one discriminates, he or she makes a distinction based upon race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, and age. Due to the interactions between the majority groups with the Native Americans, the internment of the Japanese, and the civil rights movement for African-Americans, it is clear that discrimination has a very prominent place in U.S. history. Affirmative Action On March 6, 1961, President John F. Kennedy formally created the affirmative action program by creating the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. Affirmative action was designed to be a corrective measure for past governmental and social injustices. These real and/or perceived injustices include systematic discrimination and prejudice against demographic groups based upon race, gender, or ethnicity. Under the doctrine of affirmative action, one method of correcting any past wrongs is to allow a means for members of the underrepresented and formally unprotected classes to have access to education and employment. Currently, there are many who are fighting against the affirmative action programs established in the private and public sector, arguing that these programs are really a form of reverse discrimination. Typically, when people think about affirmative action, issues of race immediately come to mind; however, in reality, studies have shown that the biggest beneficiaries of equal opportunity programs are women. Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment law was originally drafted to ensure that all employees were free to work in an environment that was not hostile. When this legislation was introduced initially, the thought was that it was intended to allow women to work in an environment free from unwanted advances, lewd behavior, and uncomfortable situations caused by male superiors. However, history and court cases have shown that this legislation is applicable to both genders because there have been many men who have used the legislation in litigation. Clearly the use of this legislation by men usurps the original premise that women needed this legislation because they were more vulnerable than men. Reference Cases for the seventh intercollegiate ethics bowl. (n.d.). Retrieved from the Indiana University Web site: http://www.indiana.edu/~rbm/ebcases2001&2.htm