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At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

[In search of a new morality. Ethical considerations on the Amstad Report].

Against the background of rapid progress in the field of reproduction medicine and gene technology, the governments of various countries have set up commissions to discuss the moral, legal and social problems involved and make proposals for regulation. Thus, in 1986 the Swiss Federal Council convened an expert commission which, after two years of discussion, has recently published a voluminous document (the "Amstad Report"). The present paper attempts to analyze, from the philosophical viewpoint, some of the problems associated with such processes for the further development of morality for specific ends. A leading question in this regard is the role of philosophical thought in these processes, i.e. the potentialities and limits of ethics for the creation of a moral consensus on the problems surrounding technical intervention in human reproduction. There are four schools of thought: 1. The activities of expert commissions are evidence of the fact that man is at present endeavouring consciously to "construct" his morality. He may always have been the subject of his mortality, but this was without his own knowledge and awareness. Today, under the pressure of new means of action, man is becoming the conscious subject of his mortality and the formation of a morality is a process aimed at a specific result. 2. The fundamental difficulty of such a scheme arises from the absence of a theoretical and socially tested system for the "construction" of a new morality. This is also true of philosophy: on questions of morality it possesses analytic competence but no specific methods of generating new norms and values.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Ethics, Medical↗
PubMed1997

The patient as moral agent in psychotherapy.

Psychotherapists may be uncertain whether the morality of the patient is their concern. Philosophically, we can distinguish between two kinds of morality: relativistic and universal. Relativistic morality is concerned with the conventions of a particular society and is authoritarian in nature. Universal morality is common to all humanity and is innate and autonomous. We can identify the two kinds of morality in psychological theory, representing stages of development. Psychoanalysis may facilitate a movement from authoritarian (relativistic) to autonomous (universal) morality. I shall argue that universal morality is relevant in psychotherapy. On the other hand, the therapist might help patients to question and reconsider their adherence to conventional codes.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Critical thinking, educational preparation, and development of moral judgment among selected groups of practicing nurses.

The focus of this descriptive study was the relationship between critical thinking, educational preparation, and level of moral judgment in 79 practicing nurses. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Test was used to measure critical thinking; information on the participating nurses' educational preparation was obtained from a personal information sheet. Moral judgment was measured by Rest's Defining Issues Test. The hypothesis that critical thinking would be positively related to moral judgment was tested by Pearson product moment correlation; the obtained coefficient of .5326 was significant at the .001 level. The hypothesis that there would be a difference between professional and technical nurses' moral judgments was tested through a one-way analysis of variance. The F ratio (F [1,77] = 9.6) was significant beyond the .01 level. Data also supported the hypothesis that critical thinking and educational preparation would predict greater variance in moral judgment than either variable alone, which was tested through multiple regression analysis (F [2,75] = 18.3, p = .01). Critical thinking and education together accounted for 32.9 percent of the variance in moral judgment. Implications of the findings are discussed for nursing research, practice, and education.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Acts, omissions, intentions and motives: a philosophical examination of the moral distinction between killing and letting die.

Health care professionals frequently justify moral decisions by appealing to the acts and omissions distinction and the principle of double effect. These principles are often quoted and criticised in the nursing literature, particularly in relation to active and passive euthanasia. Authors are, however, inclined to acknowledge the fact that they are a philosophical minefield, but fall short of providing a substantial critical analysis. Those who uphold the acts and omissions distinction claim that we are morally less responsible for our omissions than for our acts. The principle of double effect suggests that there is a moral distinction between direct and indirect intention and that we are morally less responsible for that which we intend indirectly. This article offers an examination of these often quoted, but sometimes little understood, principles and it is hoped that it will serve as a basis for debate. Since the intention is to challenge assumptions which can lull us into believing that our moral decisions can be justified by appealing to principles such as these, it is necessary to examine them critically and to go beyond a superficial grasp of the implications of such distinctions. There is a tendency to appeal to the acts and omissions doctrine and the principle of double effect in life and death situations such as euthanasia, infanticide and abortion, but are they valuable tools which should be used in moral decision making, or are they so flawed that they can seriously mislead us when it comes to hard cases? The conclusion reached in this paper is that there is no significant moral difference between an act and an omission, particularly within the context of killing and letting die, and that the principle of double effect encourages hypocrisy rather than honesty.

Double Effect Principle↗
PubMed2001

Divisibility and the moral status of embryos.

The phenomenon of twinning in early fetal development has become a popular source for doubt regarding the ascription of moral status to early embryos. In this paper, the possible moral basis for such a line of reasoning is critically analysed with sceptical results. Three different versions of the argument from twinning are considered, all of which are found to rest on confusions between the actual division of embryos involved in twinning and the property of early embryos to be divisible, to be based on highly questionable ethical assumptions, or to imply inconsistent claims regarding the moral importance of potentiality and/or the moral status of embryos. This is taken to expose a number of related inconsistencies in the moral basis of pro-life positions. In particular, ascribing moral significance to the property of being (in)divisible is found to be incompatible with the claim that human individuals possess unique values which could underpin an absolute moral ban on murder.

Beginning of Human Life↗
PubMed2005

To stay or to go, to speak or stay silent, to act or not to act: moral distress as experienced by psychologists.

The moral distress of psychologists working in psychiatric and mental health care settings was explored in an interdisciplinary, hermeneutic phenomenological study situated at the University of Alberta, Canada. Moral distress is the state experienced when moral choices and actions are thwarted by constraints. Psychologists described specific incidents in which they felt their integrity had been compromised by such factors as institutional and interinstitutional demands, team conflicts, and interdisciplinary disputes. They described dealing with the resulting moral distress by such means as silence, taking a stance, acting secretively, sustaining themselves through work with clients, seeking support from colleagues, and exiting. Recognizing moral distress can lead to a significant shift in the way we perceive moral choices and understand the moral context of practice.

Codes of Ethics↗
PubMed1999

Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities.

Moral agency is manifested in both the power to refrain from behaving inhumanely and the proactive power to behave humanely. Moral agency is embedded in a broader sociocognitive self theory encompassing self-organizing, proactive, self-reflective, and self-regulatory mechanisms rooted in personal standards linked to self-sanctions. The self-regulatory mechanisms governing moral conduct do not come into play unless they are activated, and there are many psychosocial maneuvers by which moral self-sanctions are selectively disengaged from inhumane conduct. The moral disengagement may center on the cognitive restructuring of inhumane conduct into a benign or worthy one by moral justification, sanitizing language, and advantageous comparison; disavowal of a sense of personal agency by diffusion or displacement of responsibility; disregarding or minimizing the injurious effects of one's actions; and attribution of blame to, and dehumanization of, those who are victimized. Many inhumanities operate through a supportive network of legitimate enterprises run by otherwise considerate people who contribute to destructive activities by disconnected subdivision of functions and diffusion of responsibility. Given the many mechanisms for disengaging moral control, civilized life requires, in addition to humane personal standards, safeguards built into social systems that uphold compassionate behavior and renounce cruelty.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1997

The moral status of preembryos, embryos, fetuses, and infants.

Some have argued that embryos and fetuses have the moral status of personhood because of certain criteria that are satisfied during gestation. However, these attempts to base personhood during gestation on intrinsic characteristics have uniformly been unsuccessful. Within a secular framework, another approach to establishing a moral standing for embryos and fetuses is to argue that we ought to confer some moral status upon them. There appear to be two main approaches to defending conferred moral standing; namely, consequentialist and contractarian arguments. This article puts forward a consequentialist argument for the conferred moral standing of preembryos, embryos, fetuses, and infants. It states and defends an original version of the commonly-held view that moral standing increases during gestation. It also explores the implications of this viewpoint for several issues: what is involved in showing 'respect' for preembryos; and whether it is permissible to create preembryos solely for research.

Beginning of Human Life↗
PubMed2006

In defence of moral imperialism: four equal and universal prima facie principles.

Raanan Gillon is a noted defender of the four principles approach to healthcare ethics. His general position has always been that these principles are to be considered to be both universal and prima facie in nature. In recent work, however, he has made two claims that seem to present difficulties for this view. His first claim is that one of these four principles, respect for autonomy, has a special position in relation to the others: he holds that it is first among equals. We argue that this claim makes little sense if the principles are to retain their prima facie nature. His second claim is that cultural variation can play an independent normative role in the construction of our moral judgments. This, he argues, enables us to occupy a middle ground between what he sees as the twin pitfalls of moral relativism and (what he calls) moral imperialism. We argue that there is no such middle ground, and while Gillon ultimately seems committed to relativism, it is some form of moral imperialism (in the form of moral objectivism) that will provide the only satisfactory construal of the four principles as prima facie universal moral principles.

Beneficence↗
PubMed2005

Predicting moral behavior in physical education classes: an application of the theory of planned behavior.

This study aimed to examine the potential of the Theory of Planned Behavior to predict moral behavior in primary school physical education classes. Primary school children (N=611) completed a questionnaire including the Theory of Planned Behavior variables. Also, 21 teachers filled in an adapted version of Horrocks' Prosocial Play Behavior Inventory which assesses five moral behavior facets. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that attitudes toward moral behavior and perceived behavioral control were significant predictors of intention towards moral behavior (54%). Intention and perceived behavioral control predicted teacher-reported moral behavior (41%). The present results indicated that the theory provides a valuable framework for study of primary school children's moral behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Professional and bureaucratic role conceptions and moral behavior among nurses.

This descriptive study tested the relationship between professional and bureaucratic role conceptions and moral behavior. It was theorized that professional-bureaucratic role conceptions of nurses, and their perceptions of the discrepancy between ideal and actual values influence the manner in which they practice and operationalize their professional values, including moral behavior. Data were obtained from 217 practicing nurses representing different positions, areas of practice, education, age, ethnic groups, and work settings. Two of the subscales of Nursing Role Conceptions (Pieta, 1976) were used to measure professional and bureaucratic role conceptions; moral behavior was measured by Judgments About Nursing Decisions (Ketefian, 1981). Professional categorical role conception was positively related to moral behavior. Professional normative role conception and professional role discrepancy were negatively related. Bureaucratic role discrepancy was found to be positively related to moral behavior. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that the combination of professional normative and bureaucratic normative role conceptions, professional categorical and bureaucratic categorical role conceptions, and professional and bureaucratic role discrepancies explained greater variance in moral behavior than either one of the pairs of variables alone. The interactions between these variables were not significant.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Measuring moral judgment in nursing dilemmas.

Based on cognitive theory of moral development, this research investigated the difference between nurses' responses to general, hypothetical moral dilemmas and their responses to real-life nursing dilemmas. The purpose of the research was to: identify recurrent moral dilemmas experienced by staff nurses; develop an instrument (Nursing Dilemma Test [NDT]) to measure nurses' responses to nursing dilemmas and the importance given to moral issues and practical considerations; relate staff nurses' responses to nursing dilemmas in the NDT and responses to hypothetical moral dilemmas in the Defining Issues Test to two subject variables (level of nursing education and length of clinical nursing experience); and compare moral judgments, both hypothetical general and nursing specific, of five subject groups (N = 225): staff nurses with associate degrees (57) and baccalaureate degrees (85) in nursing, nurses with masters degrees in nursing (10), college junior prenurses (36), and graduate level nonnurses (37). Findings verified the significance of formal education and previous involvement with similar dilemmas in enhancing principled thinking and raised questions about the relative strength of practical considerations in the hospital milieu.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Finding an appropriate ethic in a world of moral acquaintances.

This paper discusses the possibility of finding an ethic of at least partial and perhaps ever-growing content in a world not that of moral strangers (where we have nothing except our desire to live freely to unite us) and one of moral friends (in which values, goals and ways of doing things are held in common). I argue that both the world of moral strangers which Engelhardt's world view would support, as the world of moral friends which is the one Pellegrino seeks both are untenable and that furthermore both can lead to a similar state of affairs. I suggest a dynamic world of moral acquaintances in which different belief systems and ways of doing things can come to some broad agreements about some essential thing. This is made possible because although we do not share the intimate framework Pellegrino might suggest, yet we are united by a much broader framework than the one moral strangers share.

Altruism↗
PubMed2000

Moral reasoning, perceived competence, and adolescent engagement in risky activity.

Relations among moral reasoning, domain specific perceived competencies, and self-reported engagement in risky activity (substance use and antisocial behavior) were examined with 110 10th-12th grade students. An exploratory model demonstrated that perceived behavioral competence mediated the relation of moral reasoning and engagement in risky behavior such that preconventional moral reasoning predicted perceptions of low behavioral competence, which was associated with engagement in risky activity. The results support contentions of moral theorists that a comprehensive theory of moral development must include self-regulatory mechanisms such as perceptions of competence in order to predict moral conduct.

Achievement↗
PubMed2004

Practical moral codes in the transgenic organism debate.

In one study funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, people from North Dakota were interviewed to discover which moral principles they use in evaluating the morality of transgenic organisms and their introduction into markets. It was found that although the moral codes the human subjects employed were very similar, their views on transgenics were vastly different. In this paper, the codes that were used by the respondents are developed, compared to that of the academically composed Belmont Report, and then modified to create the more practical Common Moral Code. At the end, it is shown that the Common Moral Code has inherent inconsistency flaws that might be resolvable, but would require extensive work on the definition of terms and principles. However, the effort is worthwhile, especially if it results in a common moral code that all those involved in the debate are willing to use in negotiating a resolution to their differences.

Advisory Committees↗
PubMed2004

The development of moral judgment during nursing education in Finland.

This study describes moral judgment among first- and last-year nursing students in Finland and examines the effects of ethics teaching on the development of moral judgment. The data for this quantitative cross-sectional study were collected using the Defining Issues Test (DIT), which is based on Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning stages. The questionnaires were sent to four polytechnics, which offer nursing education in southern Finland. A total of 52 first-year students and 54 last-year students participated. The results showed that students who had had to deal with ethical dilemmas in their practical training had higher moral judgment than students who did not. Last-year students had higher moral judgment than first-year students. Last-year students resorted to principle-based thinking more often than first-year students in resolving DIT dilemmas. The differences between the two groups were statistically significant. The results indicate that nursing education may has an effect upon students' moral judgment.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Curriculum changes and moral issues in nursing education.

Through history nursing education has strongly advocated the importance of educating students towards moral and ethical responsibility. In today's society however, it has become increasingly difficult to honour this concern. One peephole to capture the ongoing struggle is to look into the curriculum where different stakeholders voice different opinions. Following a social constructive perspective the curriculum texts represent specific interest among stakeholders related to nursing education in a certain historical periods. By analysing the two last versions of the curriculum we get an insight into moral and ethical issues at stake and different ways of addressing these questions. While moral and ethical issues in the curriculum of 1987 follow a disciplinary discourse emphasising the importance of learning ethical concepts and modes of arguments, the curriculum of 2000 places ethical and moral issues within an employability discourse. In this curriculum moral issues are seen as an obligation linked to students practical and technical skills. The 2000 curriculum represents a shift from emphasising the independent and reflective professional to underline the skillful and morally obliged practitioner.

Curriculum↗
PubMed2004

The neural bases of cognitive conflict and control in moral judgment.

Traditional theories of moral psychology emphasize reasoning and "higher cognition," while more recent work emphasizes the role of emotion. The present fMRI data support a theory of moral judgment according to which both "cognitive" and emotional processes play crucial and sometimes mutually competitive roles. The present results indicate that brain regions associated with abstract reasoning and cognitive control (including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) are recruited to resolve difficult personal moral dilemmas in which utilitarian values require "personal" moral violations, violations that have previously been associated with increased activity in emotion-related brain regions. Several regions of frontal and parietal cortex predict intertrial differences in moral judgment behavior, exhibiting greater activity for utilitarian judgments. We speculate that the controversy surrounding utilitarian moral philosophy reflects an underlying tension between competing subsystems in the brain.

Brain↗