PHI 2000-Assessment 2 Making a Moral Decision Essay

PHI 2000-Assessment 2 Making a Moral Decision Essay

PHI 2000-Assessment 2 Making a Moral Decision Essay

Normative Theory and Abortion

Introduction

Moral philosophy entails the act of systemizing, shielding and proposing concepts of right and wrong conducts. Philosophers in the modern world often divide ethical theories into three general areas: meta-ethics, normative ethics and lastly virtues’ ethics. The field of meta-ethics analyses the source and the meaning of ethical principles. Is ethics a social creation? Is our ethics based on our emotions? Answers to these metaphysical questions mostly cling on the matters of universal truths, the use of reason in making ethical judgments and God’s will. On the other hand, normative ethics assumes more pragmatic and practical role. The practical task of normative ethics is to attain moral conditions that manage right or wrong conducts. This may include expressing the good characters that we should assume, the works that we should adhere and the behavioral consequences. Normative ethics seeks to unravel the essential moral behavior. The basic rule of this type of ethics is treating other people the way we would want them to treat us. For example, if I would not want my vehicle to be stolen, then I should not steal my neighbor’s car. By using the same theoretical method, one can determine whether an action is right or wrong. Normativity establishes the standard to which we use to judge the ethics of our actions.

Abortion and Normative Ethics

The debate on the normative aspects of abortion is very different from that touching on the morality issues regarding abortion. The ethics of abortion and particularly the normative ethics, deals with the mechanism of undertaking a particular course of action relevant to one’s choice, more so when the decision has already been made. The dialogue relating to the normativity of abortion is torn into two factions; namely those who are pro-abortion and those who are pro-life (John & Sons, 2014). Indeed, normative ethics is a discipline of ethics related to life judgments and choices by what is right for the whole as contrasted to self-interest; it proposes that there is a ‘proper’ method of behaving. I will analyze the three normative conceptions of ethics as they concern themselves with the abortion debate. This will be done through the application of examples of abortion topics in the contemporary world. We have three approaches to normative thinking. These include teleological, virtue and the deontological approaches (Sumner, 2016). All of these approaches will be assessed both jointly and severally from a pro-abortion as well as the pro-life and pro-choice viewpoints. To do this, examples of distinct social settings and social groups will be discussed.

Teleological Method

 The teleological theory also referred to as consequentialist approach, is a way to ethics which aims to focus on the personal consequences of human actions. So concerning abortions, the consequentialist theory would indicate that the ethical judgment would be based on the outcome of the said abortion and its impact on the larger population. Moreover, utilitarianism, which is a subset of consequentialism theory, would dictate that if the outcome is good for the whole community, then it is right and ethical.

Deontological Method

To the contrary, deontology addresses the way of the actions undertaken, while enforcing a moral code. Therefore, a deontological viewpoint would suggest that the choice to abort and consequent deeds relevant to that judgment is of ethical relevance to the whole society.

Virtue Ethics Method

Contrary to both teleology and deontology, which only focus on the impacts and the procedure of ethical decision-making, respectively, virtue’s ethics bother itself more with the features or the character of the individual making the judgment. Virtues theory of thinking concerns itself with the type of person we ought to be and the relevance of our actions to our character. What our actions show of our character is only addressed through virtues way of thinking (LaFollette, 2014). Consequently, virtues ethics would surround itself with the question as to whether the work of abortion is consistent with the individual person undertaking abortion wants to become. Does abortion show the ethical standing of the person taking it?

China and the Policy of Population Control

When discussing China more so with concern to its ever-morphing policies on family planning and the issue of population control, one cannot fail to conclude that the communist government of China is in control of the situation, and it is enforcing the teleological approach to the relevant ethical quagmire (Cohen & Wellman, 2014). In the whole of China, particularly in the recent history, the thinking behind population control concerned itself with trying to multiply and increase the population in early 1940s to create a vast workforce. During this time, the economy was starting to recover from the impacts of war and hence industrialization was beginning to take shape. The rise in industrialization in effect created more jobs for the youth and the general population.

Contrary to the previous line of thought, in the 1970s, China introduced and started the one-child-policy as a strategic response to the constricted levels of the food supply. At this time, the factors of production were less than the demands of the heightened population hence creating food deficits. Additionally, the country reintroduced the one -child policy due to the changing social and economic dynamics. China population-control history has been contradictory and in many times inconsistent. More recently – 2013 in particular – the Republic of China enacted a two-child policy as a response to a relatively aging and also significantly male population. Additionally, this policy was informed by the decreasing levels of labor force. This in effect had threatened the current and future prospects of the China’s economy. In all these situations, the strategies imposed were a response to the changing and perhaps undesirable demographics geared towards achieving a particular targeted result, not necessarily purporting to comply with a specific ethical code or maybe to align to any school of thought about the matters at hand.

The fruits realized through the imposition of the one-child policy enacted more than five decades ago include an increase in abortion rate – both voluntary and forced – as well as the execution of female babies after birth. These abortion actions left a devastating and unfortunate girl child ratio at 118: 100. The policy also resulted in high levels of suicide particularly among females who are viewed as sex vessels and as means of production due to the patriarchal nature of the society. Unfortunately, women are bound to undergo the atrocities of forced labor and forced abortion (MacKinnon & Fiala, 2014). China government punishes severely those who fail to abide by the birth control policy and these are mostly women. Furthermore, the ruling party, the communist, holds that the means of the relevant policy justifies the end of development and ethics.

A Christian Viewpoint

 It is typical for the three frameworks of judgment namely teleological, virtue ethics and deontological to contradict. However, this overlap can lead to similar conclusions. Christian thinking as applied to the debate of abortion indicates a clear stand – Christian moral code – in which all believers ought to follow (Wald & Calhoun-Brown, 2014). This moral code is dictated by a deontological approach. However, there as some behaviors in the Christian setting that can be related to the teleological method, thus focusing on the consequences. Effectively, the two approaches of ethical decision-making can at some point intersect. Moreover, no person can ignore the application of the virtues ethics specifically in matters abortion. The religious perspective on this controversial issue is necessarily focused on the consequences approach even though a deontological perspective maybe more so in the process of making the proper judgment. Most Christians may justify abortion in the circumstance that the life of the mother is in danger. However, some Christian faiths apply a more strict code of ethics when it comes to this controversial topic. For example, Catholic Church holds that life is sacred and hence its termination cannot be tolerated.

Conclusion

This paper has brought out the significant differences between ethics and morality. The question of abortion is a controversial subject in the modern society. The divisions that are prevalent in this contentious issue are based on social, economic, cultural, political, ethical and moral grounds. Nonetheless, abortion is a significant social issue more so when analyzing the normative ethical theories.

References

Cohen, A. I., & Wellman, C. H. (Eds.). (2014). Contemporary debates in applied ethics. Chichester, England : Wiley-Blackwell.

LaFollette, H. (Ed.). (2014). Ethics in practice: An anthology. Malden, MA : Wiley Blackwell.

MacKinnon, B., & Fiala, A. (2014). Ethics: Theory and contemporary issues. Boston, MA : Cenegage.

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Sumner, L. W. (2016). Abortion and moral theory. Place of publication not identified: Princeton University Pres.Bottom of Form

Wald, K. D., & Calhoun-Brown, A. (2011). Religion and politics in the United States. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

PHI 2000-Assessment 2 Making a Moral Decision Essay

Making a Moral Decision