PHL281 Flashcards
(28 cards)
What is utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism that promotes the principle of utility with the goal to maximize net happiness
Act Utilitarianism
ct utilitarianism, where the principle of utility must be applied to every individual action. This is hardly practical, and shows its flaws in considering promoting happiness as equivalent to promoting good
Rule Utilitarianism
rules are designed upon the principle of utility. In this form, in order to promote good and the principle of utility, you must simply follow all the generated rules. This form of utilitarianism breaks down easily when utility is conflicting with a rule.
Kant’s Principle of Humanity
always treat yourself and others as an end and never as a mere means. He describes that we are our own ends because we are rational and autonomous
Paternalism
- defined as restricting or interfering with someone’s autonomy in order to promote what is perceived to be their own good
- poses a conflict between the primary values of beneficence and autonomy
Informed Consent
Informed consent refers to when someone is able to make a decision with all information and all options present. Without informed consent, patients are not able to be fully autonomous.
Agency
Brudney and Lantos define agency as the capacity to make a choice on the basis of reason and to act independent of our desires in an instant
Authenticity
authenticity, exercised over time, is the capacity to form ourselves so that our desires are reflective of our personal beliefs and values that cumulate to project an individual persona
How do agency and authenticity compare to the value of life
only the value of authenticity can be held over the value of life itself. I believe that this evaluation can quickly become a return to paternalism, in the case that doctors are capable of determining if a patient’s choice is truly authentic.
Paternalistic Model
physician presents the patient with curated information to encourage the patient to consent to the treatment course the physician considers best. This model is commonly viewed as disrespectful from a Kantian perspective and inconsiderate of patient values.
Informative Model
- resents all factual information to the patient and leaves them with complete decision making authority
- it lacks human connection and compassion
interpretive Model
hysician takes the role of a counselor and shares medical information while attempting to help the patient interpret their values to choose a treatment that best suits their life. This model lacks practicality and misinterprets the physician’s role
Deliberative Model
- allows moral discussion and allows the physician to voice their professional opinion while still ultimately respecting patient autonomy
- disregards the physicians inability to truly relate to patients due to their socioeconomic standing and can be viewed as too intrusive
Nudging
defined as any choice of the choice architecture that alters peoples behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives
Why do some people find nudging morally problematic
differs from overt paternalism in the way that choosing differently from the nudge must be very easy and the manipulation used is slight persuasion rather than blatant coercion
Why can nudging be morally problematic
takes advantage of people’s flawed reasoning capabilities to manipulate their autonomy
My view on nudging
I believe that slight manipulation is a fundamental, inescapable aspect of human communication. Changing the way in which treatment options are presented to reflect the order in which the physician would like them to be considered is inescapable in the fact that they must be presented in some way. The physician has the right to choose how they present information, as each person typically does in any form of communication.
Cohen’s three strongest responses to the objection that nudging is morally wrong
- enhances autonomy: consequentialist
- eliminates patient bias (preference for status quo, duration neglect)
- morally required bc choice architecture is inescapable
Critical Interest
refer to hopes and aims that lend genuine meaning and coherence to our lives
Experiential Interests
done for the enjoyment of the experience itself, rather than an outcome
three reasons why Dresser is skeptical of advance directives
- atients are often uninformed on the potential positive course of their condition and new treatments
- with substantial memory loss and physiological changes, the person they once were no longer exists an therefore no longer has moral authority over the new version of them
- immoral to make a decision to further the critical interests of a competent version of the person when not only does the new version not care for these interests
** dependant upon strength of critical intrests
Why do the same considerations that justify rights of informed consent also justify rights of self-medication
- kantian perspective of a duty to acknowledge other’s decision-making capacities as equal to our own
- egalitarian perspective that paternalistic intervention expresses an infaltalizing, offensive judgement of the persons inability to choose well
- connotation that a patient cannot ignore medical advice both by aquiring unadvised meical treatment or by denying advised medical treatment is inherently paternalistic
the fundamental ethical problem with randomized clinical trial
- physician is to express loyalty to their patient and to always act in the patients individual best interest
- scientist, conversely, is to objectively answer questions to provide scientific information that will benefit humanity in general
- rights-based moral theory versus a utilitarian moral theory
-physician is expected to actu upon Kantian principles, whereas a scientist must act upon utilitarian principles
Clinical Eqipoise
clinical equipoise arises when there is an honest disagreement within the medical community regarding the comparative merits of two or more forms of treatment for a given condition
