Category Archives: Making Moral Decisions
Click the image to watch the full video on this story.Benefits and Dangers of Voluntary Euthanasia – Int 2 RMPS
To post your opinion on the view you signed up for in class just press comment below. Usual options (initials) apply and make sure you make your answer balanced and clear. We can all use each others answers for revising for the NAB… If you want to see a bigger version of the slide above just click on it…
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The Island
Some thoughtful questions on Michael Bay’s 2005 film: The Island. They will be helpful for any student of the Use of Embryos section of Higher or Int2 RMPS.
Knowing the ‘right’ thing to do…
Here’s the video clip we watched in class last week. Post your answers to the question below. You will need to use an alias.
1. Do you think Peter does the ‘right’ thing in the clip. This is not a yes or no question. You will need to highlight the complexities as you see them and explain how they impact your thoughts.
2. Who was Jeremy Bentham? What would he have thought was the right thing to do? Why?
3. Do you think he gives us a solution to thinking about life decisions? Why/ Why Not? Again this will be a thoughtful and extended answer. You will probably need to think through several real life situations as ‘thought-experiments’ to help you decide on this.
Use of Embryos Summaries
S4 Cover work – Moral Philosophy Recap
This clip shows a Captain in the British Navy in the Second World War. He is forced to make a difficult decision. As part of a convoy containing many ships he must decide whether to drop depth charges killing some allied sailors who are known to many of his on crew. To decide to save these men would be to risk the lives of every other seaman in the convoy…
Questions:
1. Why is the Captain’s decision so difficult?
2. Why do you think the Captain makes the decision he did? Was he right?
3. What sort of moral philosophy is underlying this action? Why?
4. What do you think Kant would have claimed was the right thing to do (think duty, moral absolutes, universalisability)?
5. What ‘Duties’ are involved in this decision? Do they conflict?
Watch the second clip:
Questions:
1. Is the Captain a murderer? Why/why not?
2. Does the action become more or less ‘right’ if the U-boat was not where they though it was? Explain your answer.
3. Do you find Kant’s approach or that of the Utilitarian more satisfactory in this case? Why?
4. What is moral luck? How does it fit in with this situation?
5. The Captains of the other ships recommend he drink away his ‘thoughts’. How did you feel when you heard them suggest this? What role does your conscience play in determining what is ‘right’?