Ethics and morality in contemporary contexts

Ethics and Morality: Unit Questions

LC2

Does Virtue Lead to Happiness?

'Tis popular belief, good character leads to happiness

By doing good, you feel good

Is this always so? I don't think so;

On the rack, happiness and virtuousness are unrelated

Ain't happiness the feeling of pleasantness?

What is pleasant about dying; dying for a virtuous cause in the hands of unfair torturers?

Nothing, not even with the highest degree of mental discipline 'Tis true; virtuousness and happiness coincide;

But only when happiness is derived from virtuousness;

Strokes of bad luck ruin all this sometimes

LC2: To Clone or not to Clone; the Pros and Cons of Cloning

Cloning refers to the technological process of creating a genetic replica of an existing organism by fusing the organism's genetic material with an enucleated egg, and then stimulating the reconstructed egg to undergo cell division (Farnsworth, 2000). The process usually results in a genetic duplicate of the person being cloned. Depending on the procedures undertaken, the clone could either be a copy of the original parent's stem cells (therapeutic cloning), a copy of their entire being (reproductive cloning), or a copy of their DNA segments (gene cloning). Cloning was first practiced in Scotland in 1997, with the cloning of Dolly the Lamb (Farnsworth, 2000). However, consensus is yet to be reached about whether or not the procedure ought to be practiced on human beings.

The potential advantages of cloning include the ability to reverse the aging process by having cloned (new) body cells implanted into the body when aging begins to set in; the ability to produce organs with the same genetic make-up as the model, thereby reducing the occurrence of deaths resulting from failed transplant procedures; increased possibilities for infertile and lesbian couples to have children; the ability to replace dead people; and minimized danger in the conduction of cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries, given that doctors would be able to manufacture connective tissue, fat, and bone exactly matching those of their patients.

Cloning is, however, not without its share of disadvantages. First, the procedure is very risky, and the chances of success are minimal. Therefore, there is no guarantee that the person being cloned will even get to enjoy the benefits of the same. Moreover, there are high degrees of uncertainty surrounding the procedure -- given the complications witnessed in the Dolly case, experts have postulated that there could be substantial physical and mental harms associated with cloning (Bergeron, 2004). Furthermore, the artificial creation of human beings would be a substantial threat to evolution, biodiversity, and human reproduction. Finally, the procedure is surrounded by serious ethical concerns -- does the clone have the same rights and privileges as their parent; or does the latter reserve the right to manipulate them as they please?

In my view, cloning is an outstanding development in the field of biomedical technology; however, despite its inherent benefits, it ought not to be used for the reproduction of human beings. Only God reserves the right to give and take life; granting ourselves this right through cloning, therefore, is a violation of God's Law. All the same, I would support the cloning of tissues, particularly because it puts no lives in danger.

5 LC1: Unit 5 Live Chat Session

Wealth distribution has been a subject of debate for centuries, particularly in less-developed countries, where there are huge disparities in wealth and income endowment, and a bulk of society's wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people. The process and end-of-state views of social justice attempt to explain why these disparities exist, attributing the same to differences in individuals' levels of contribution and achievement in the attainment of wealth. Towards this end, hardworking individuals have more wealth than their less-hardworking counterparts.

Through his theory of justice, John Rawlins attempts to explain how people ought to live with each other in society in the wake of the inherently inevitable disparities in resource-endowment. In his view, everyone has a right to access basic necessities, as well as the right to exercise their rights and freedoms free of the interference of others; and people would naturally prefer a society with lower levels of inequality to one with huge disparities. Towards this end, resources ought to be allocated such that they benefit the least-disadvantaged member of society.

5 LC2: Human Beings Hold no Special Place in Nature