Unit 5 Flashcards
Applied Ethics – Putting Philosophy into Practice (30 cards)
Applied Ethics
Applies ethical theories to specific practical issues.
Bioethics
Ethical issues in medicine and biology. It studies ethical issues that emerge with advances in biology, technology, and medicine.
Bioethics-Abortion
Moral, legal, and ethical considerations regarding abortion, including debates about personhood and bodily autonomy.
Abortion-Personhood
A central concept in the abortion debate. It’s about what qualities distinguish humans as beings capable of morality. Philosophers like Aristotle and Kant identified reason as a key factor. The debate often comes down to when a fetus gains “personhood” and therefore rights.
Abortion-Religious Views
Many monotheistic religions object to abortion due to a belief in a God-given soul and the sanctity of life. Views on when ensoulment occurs vary (e.g., 40 days or at conception in some Christian traditions, 120 days in Islam).
Abortion-Secular Views of Personhood
Some argue that the unborn are “potential persons” and thus have at least a right to life.
Abortion-Right to Bodily Autonomy
This is the right of individuals to decide what happens to their own bodies. Judith Jarvis Thomson’s violinist thought experiment argues that even if a fetus has a right to life, it doesn’t necessarily mean the pregnant person has an obligation to carry it to term, emphasizing bodily autonomy.
Euthanasia
Ethical questions surrounding end-of-life decisions and assisted suicide. It is the ending a human life to avoid suffering.
Euthanasia-Passive Euthanasia
Withholding or withdrawing treatment with the expectation that the patient will die sooner than they would with continued medical intervention. (e.g., a “Do Not Resuscitate” or DNR order).
Euthanasia-Active Euthanasia
Terminating a patient’s life using medical interventions (e.g., lethal injection).
Euthanasia-Voluntary vs. Nonvoluntary
Voluntary means it’s at the patient’s request; nonvoluntary means someone else makes the decision for an incapacitated patient.
Euthanasia-Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)
A physician provides the means or information for a patient to end their own life. It’s distinguished from euthanasia because the patient performs the final act.
Business Ethics and Emerging Technology
This field examines ethical issues in business practices, corporate responsibility, and emerging technology. It also looks at codes of ethics for organizations and issues of equality (like affirmative action).
AI Ethics: Ensuring Responsible Technology
As we use more and more Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our world, it brings up new ethical questions about how these powerful tools should be developed and used. The goal of AI ethics is to ensure these technologies benefit everyone and don’t cause harm.
Bias
AI systems learn from data. If the data used to train an AI is unfair or incomplete, the AI can become biased, leading to unfair decisions. This is why it’s super important for AI development to use diverse and balanced data sets. Diversity in the development team can also help reduce errors.
Privacy
AI often processes personal and sensitive data. A big question is how to make sure this data is protected. Transparency (people knowing how their data is used) and control (people having options over their data) are key.
Accountability
If an AI makes a mistake, who is responsible? Is it the developer, the user, or even the AI itself? We need clearer laws and rules to figure out who is to blame and hold the right groups responsible for both the good and bad impacts of AI.
Transparency and Intelligibility
We need to understand how and why AI systems make their decisions. This understanding, or “intelligibility,” helps us hold people and organizations accountable.
AI for Social Good
Ethical AI isn’t just about preventing harm; it’s also about using AI to benefit society and promote the well-being of our planet. Developers and those who use AI have a moral responsibility to use it to advance social welfare.
The Evolving Field
AI ethics is still a new and developing field. It requires policymakers, business leaders, technology developers, academics, and communities to work together to reduce harms and ensure AI supports a thriving global society. It’s a field open to anyone willing to learn, combining technical skills with legal and ethical knowledge.
“Nosedive” (Black Mirror Episode)
This episode explores how technology can impact our values and well-being.
“Nosedive” (Black Mirror Episode)-Social Scoring and Value Theory
The episode features a society where everyone rates each other, and these ratings directly affect their social status, housing, and opportunities.
“Nosedive” (Black Mirror Episode)- Social Scoring and Value Theory-Connection to Hedonism/Desire Satisfaction
People in “Nosedive” are constantly seeking “higher” ratings, which functions like a pursuit of pleasure or the satisfaction of desire, but it’s driven by external validation rather than true internal well-being. What happens when your “good life” is defined by what others think of you, instead of what truly makes you happy or fulfilled?
“Nosedive” (Black Mirror Episode)- Social Scoring and Value Theory-Objective Goods
Does the constant chase for ratings allow for the pursuit of objective goods like genuine knowledge, virtue, or deep friendships, or does it hinder them? Consider how relationships in the episode are often superficial and transactional.
