Quiz 3 Flashcards
(33 cards)
Virtue Ethics (VE)
Emphasizes on character rather than actions and consequences to define morality
Distinguishes between good character traits - virtues and vices
Morality: being the best person you can be, honing strengths while working on weaknesses
For Aristotle: the person who strives for virtue will do only good things
Our actions reflect on who we are
(VE) What is a virtue?
Virtue of character is a mean between two vices, one of excess and one of deficiency - Golden Mean
(VE) Can virtue be learned?
To Aristotle: Yes!
Virtue is a skill that can be learned by observing virtuous people, and emulate them and practice.
(VE) What is a good life?
Eudaimonia: the search for happiness from within.
The good life is not having or striving for virtues, it is the possession and practice of them - to flourish!
(VE) Practical Wisdom
It is the practical knowledge
The intellectual virtue of practical reasoning - knowledge acquired by practice
Eg. Nurse Belanna
(VE) How to become virtuous?
This is not done by studying, but though doing virtuous actions in the way that virtuous people do until it becomes a habit.
By observing and practising virtuous people
(VE) Open-mindedness
The mean between closed-mindedness and credulousness
turning away and being resistant to change - adopting the latest idea without reflecting
Criticisms of Virtue Ethics
- Unclear guidance on how to act
- Unclear definition of what truly being virtuous is
- Subjective- eg. how to define a good life can be very subjective
Integrity
From latin “integer” - meaning “intact”
Wholeness
The quality of being honest and having a strong
Integrity Aspects (4)
1) Moral autonomy
2) Fidelity to Promise
3) Steadfastness
4) Wholeness
(Integrity) Moral Autonomy
- Becoming a more fully autonomous moral agent means to accept responsibility and being accountable for own actions or what we fail to do.
- Continuous process achieved by reflection of own values, beliefs and principles
- By knowing what we believe in we gain a moral compass on what we decide to do or not - knowing ourselves makes us gain control instead of following what others define
(Integrity) Fidelity to promise
To make promises and keep them!
Someone who cannot be counted on to keep a promise lacks integrity.
(Integrity) Fidelity to promise: Nursing Perspective
Nurses are expected to make and reflect on these promises:
1) To respect Pt values and choices
2) To protect private information & confidentiality
3) To help and do no harm
(Integrity) Steadfastness
Integrity requires us to maintain our considered values, beliefs and principles during both calm and turbulent times.
Being true to ourselves and to our moral code and promises can be difficult sometimes -
Stand up for your reflected beliefs especially when everything is against it
(Integrity) Wholeness
Personal vs Professional
State of forming a complete and harmonious whole from all parts of our lives.
Integrity requires us to integrate our ideals into our lives across its various dimensions & through the roles and relationships in which we find ourselves.
When this is absent nurses experience a disconnection that results in moral distress.
Positive duty
A duty to do something
Negative duty
A duty to refrain from doing something
Integrity and personal values
A code of ethics is :
“a professional promise to the patients and to the public that nurses will be accountable” > honest and demonstrate integrity
Integrity: Speaking up
To be silent and to not act up when something is wrong is to be conducive and to agree to it.
> Integrity demands actions > TO DO SOMETHING > Positive duty
Moral distress
When a nurse is not able to demonstrate & act for one’s beliefs, values and principles
Moral residue
What carries forwards after moral distress and inability to act for what it is right and moral
Moral integrity is incompatible with…
close-mindedness and credulousness uncooperativeness hubris and dogmatic rigidity duplicity inauthenticity unquestioning obedience
Ethic of Care
emerged from the work of Carol Gilligan (1982), which in turn was responsive to Laurence Kohlberg (1981) work in moral development.
Morality
Sense of what is right and what is wrong