Practical ethics: applying theory

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Practical ethics applying theory

• Michael Lacewing
• enquiries_at_alevelphilosophy.co.uk

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Euthanasia

• 6 types
• Involuntary, voluntary, non-voluntary
• Passive, active

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Utilitarian thoughts

• Act utilitarianism
• Look at each act of euthanasia individually not
  making a rule
• Involuntary person doesnt want to die, so is
  made unhappy by the thought of their death
• Voluntary person does want to die, often
  believing they will be less unhappy by dying
• No significant difference between active and
  passive

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Two practical points

• Morality v. legality
• Whether a practice should be legalized is a
  separate debate from whether it is moral
  acceptable.
• Dont get into metaethics
• The premise of practical ethics is that we are
  searching for the (or a) right thing to do. So
  dont start talking about relativism or
  subjectivism.

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Deontology

• What kind of action is euthanasia?
• Active more like murder, in that there is
  intervention to cause death
• Passive often combined with intended pain relief
• Slippery slope
• An action that is permitted may incline people to
  perform actions that arent permitted.

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Two more practical points

• Separate empirical (sociology, psychology) from
  philosophical
• Dont spend long discussing whether or not the
  slippery slope would actually occur.
• The conclusion is often conditional
• It is not just acceptable, but good, to say if
  it turns out like this, then this follows. E.g.
  if allowing voluntary euthanasia in some cases
  caused people to seek it wrongly, then it would
  be wrong to allow it at all

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Complexity

• So is voluntary euthanasia permissible?
• Utilitarianism
• Pro Individuals suffer differently
• Con Allowing it has bad consequences, e.g.
  looking at better alternatives
• Deontology
• Pro passive eu is not unjust, and is charitable
• Con bringing about death unnecessarily is always
  wrong

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Two final practical points

• Avoid oversimplification
• Normative theories might not deliver just one
  answer, but give reasons both for and against.
  Noting this is important for evaluation.
• Dont say Who knows? Who can say?
• You are the thinker this is your attempt to try
  to say.
• Why think practical ethics should or could be
  easy?