College of
Business
Administration
College of
Business
Administration
Discussion questions from Rachels, Ch 7-10 and from French/Granrose, Ch 3-5
1. Teleologist theory holds that the greatest good for the greatest number is the morally best decision. If this is true, are pharmaceutical firms justified in charging thousands of dollars for their AIDS treatments? The demonstration on Washington this weekend brought out the company's position: It cost millions of dollars to research and develop these drugs, shouldn't they have the right to recoup costs?
2. Utilitarianism holds that what is morally right or wrong is determined by the consequences that an action has for everyone effected by it. If this is true, does Zenith have the right to close American manufacturing plants, and move them to foreign countries, in order to lower costs and improve productivity?
3. Teleological theories hold that if an action brings about the greater balance of good over evil consequences than any other action that is open to the agent, than that action is morally right. If this is true, is it morally right to test drug/medical procedures on the terminally ill? How about death row inmates?
4. Firmism holds that the results for the firm are the sole factors for determining whether an action practiced is morally acceptable. Is it morally acceptable for manufacturers to produce handguns and make a profit? What about producers of Cigarettes?
5. Some argue that the interests of animals are outside the sphere of moral concern because animals are not rational, they lack the ability to speak, or they are simply not human. Utilitarians ague that we should judge actions right or wrong depending on whether they cause more happiness or unhappiness. Since testing shampoo in the eyes of rabbits will produce a safer shampoo for babies, is it ethical to test the shampoo in the eyes of rabbits? Is one baby's happiness more important than 20-30 rabbits? If it is ethical to test shampoo on rabbits because they are not rational beings and cannot speak is it ethical to abort a human fetus because it is not rational or cannot speak?
6. Rachels states that laws prohibiting euthanasia are not only contrary to the general welfare; they are also unjustifiable restrictions on people's rights to control their own lives. Is it ethical to pull the plug on a human vegetable? Is it ethical to relieve the misery of calves living in small pens for 4-6 months without exercise and slaughter them for veal? Is it ethical to put the calves in these pens in the first place? Is it ethical not to be a vegetarian?
7. Harold Donnelly shot and killed his brother, Matthew, with a .30-caliber pistol. Matthew had about a year left to live; had lost part of his jaw, his upper lip, his nose, his left hand, and two fingers from his right hand due to cancer; and was blind. Matthew had asked each of his three brothers to end his pain and misery. Was Harold Donnelly's act immoral?
8. In his 1972 Southern California Law Review article "Should Trees Have Standing?", Christopher D. Stone states:
"It is no answer that streams and forests cannot have standing because streams and forests cannot speak. Corporations cannot speak either; nor can states, estates, infants, incompetents, municipalities or universities. Lawyers speak for them...One ought, I think, to handle the legal problems of natural objects as one does the problems of legal incompetents--human beings who have become vegetable. If a human being shows signs of becoming senile and has affairs that he is de jure incompetent to manage, those concerned with his well being make such a showing to the court, and someone is designated by the court with the authority to manage the incompetent's affairs."Is it ethical to act as a representative for rain forests, lab animals, infants, fetus? Who should act as the representative for these things--the government destroying the rain forests or the government trying to save the rain forest; the corporations who own the lab animals or anti animal testing activists; the mother of the fetus or a group of pro-life actionaries?
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