Utilitarianism, Deontology, and Rights Ethics Principles: Ethics and Morality

Ethics and Morality: Utilitarianism, Deontology, And Rights Ethics Principles

Dramatized Example of Utilitarianism

At some point in the popular investigative TV show 24, Jack Bauer, an influential counterterrorism officer, questions terrorist Syed Ali, seeking to get him to reveal the location of a nuclear bomb that has been set to detonate in Los Angeles. Ali, however, is reluctant to cooperate, and Bauer, who unfortunately does not have the pleasure of time, orders his officers to kill the elder one of Ali's two sons and threatens to kill the younger one if Ali still does not cooperate. In a bid to save his son, Ali reveals the weapon's location, and Bauer's men get to neutralize it just in time to save Los Angeles. Bauer's action spurs a heated debate, and even Supreme Court officials find themselves divided. The question on everyone's mind is - should Jack Bauer be convicted for killing Ali's son in order to save Los Angeles?

In the principle of utilitarianism, it is the consequences of an action that determine its morality (Conway & Gawronski, 2013). To this end, "harming others is acceptable if it increases the well-being of a greater number of people" (Conway & Gawronski, 2013, p. 216). In the above case, Bauer's action is a perfect demonstration of utilitarianism; killing Ali's son would obviously cause him pain, but the fact that the lives of millions of Americans would be saved surpassed that pain. Bentham's utility principle, asserts that as long as an action "equates good with pleasure and evil with pain," it is moral (CMU, 2002). In the eyes of most Americans, Ali deserved the pain; the death of his son was some form of compensation for the evil he had planned against millions of Americans, and since Bauer's action gave them the pleasure of seeing Ali pay for his evil deeds, it was in every sense moral.

Dramatized Example of Deontology

In the movie Extreme Measures, Gene Hackman, under the screen name Dr. Myrick, uses homeless people as specimen in an experiment, in which case he seeks to establish a cure for paralysis. Hugh Grant, under the screen name Guy, uncovers Dr. Myrick and exposes him. The doctor goes into hiding, but is eventually caught. During his arrest, the doctor poses a compelling question -- "if you could kill cancer by killing one person, wouldn't you just have to do that?" The deontologist Guy is quick to respond, expressing that Myrick is a doctor, and his is a profession that should save lives rather than take them. He adds that Dr. Myrick is not God; only God reserves the right to take a person's life. To him, the doctor is a disgrace to his profession and deserves to stay in prison for the rest of his life, even if he could cure all diseases on earth.

According to the principle of deontology, the intrinsic nature of an action determines its morality. To this end, "harming others is wrong regardless of its consequences" (Conway & Gawronski, 2013, p. 216). Deontology is obligation-based ethics, and right, therefore, takes preference over good. In the above case, Guy opines that Dr. Myrick has a duty to save people's lives and that his action was morally wrong, despite the good that would result from it. Guy reasons on the basis of Kant's categorical imperative; the doctor had an unconditional obligation to the people; his actions had to be in line with this obligation and with the motive of duty, regardless of his own will or desires. According to the categorical imperative, Dr. Myrick's action was ethically wrong; first, because it cannot be taken as universal law (we cannot have everybody who is seeking to find a cure for something kill one person just to save the rest); secondly, it does not treat humanity as both the means and the end (the person left to die is not less of a human being); and third, causing the death of a person, for whatever reason, does not harmonize with the laws of the land.

Real Life Example of Violation of Rights Ethics Principles

A New York Times article titled 'Iraq is a Pediatrician Hell: No Way to Stop the Dying' focuses on the problems faced by sick Iraqi children. Sanctions imposed by the UN almost a decade ago have left the country's medical system literally paralyzed. Hospitals are unable to obtain the medical supplies and equipment needed to handle even the most easily curable of diseases. This is to mean that almost all children suffering from the more complicated ailments, like leukemia, die. An example is given where Isra Ahmed, a three-year-old with leukemia, dies after bleeding profusely from her rectum, gums, and nose, as her doctors watched helplessly. Dr. Mazin Jasim admits that the facility lacks the kind of equipment needed for Ahmed's treatment. He expresses that back in the day; Iraq was the best country in Asia with regard to medicine and science, but that thanks to the embargo, practitioners therein did not even have access to medical journals. Dr. Mazin recalls sometime between April and June 1998, when 75 children under his watch succumbed to gastroenteritis and chest infections; yet they all could have been saved had the right antibiotics been advanced.