Bio Ethics Exam 2
How does virtue ethics differ from other approaches to to ethics like deontology or
utilitarianism?
Virtue ethics is not so much concerned with what we should do but rather with how we
should be.
What are 2 positive features with virtue ethics that have prompted some to return to
virtue ethics?
-It provides more plausible appraisals of character than act-based views like Kant's
deontology and utilitarianism.
-It provides more inspiration to be good than act-based theories.
The difficulty with virtue ethics:
It may fail the determinacy requirement, which says that a moral should provide clear
guidance about what to do in most cases. It tells us how to be, but not what to do, which
we generally need the most guidance on. Virtue ethicists often respond to this by saying
if we need to know what to do, we can say an act is right if and only if the person doing
the act is acting virtuously.
Explain the view that personhood begins at conception and the difficulty with this view:
Biologically, this is when you have a distinct human individual with its own DNA. Also, it
is hard to fix a point when personhood begins at any other time during fetal
development.
Difficulty: Many find it difficult to believe that a single cell has the same moral status as
an adult human.
Explain the view that personhood begins at quickening (16-20 weeks of pregnancy) and
the difficulty with this view:
People thought that when the soul entered the body, this would animate the body or
bring it to life, and the result was evidenced by the baby's activity.
Problem: Makes fetal personhood depend on factors external to the fetus-- in this case,
how sensitive the mother is to the baby's activity.
Explain the view that personhood begins at viability (22-24 weeks but in rare cases, 20
weeks) and the difficulty with this view:
One might think this is when the baby has a life of its own and so becomes a subject of
moral and legal protection.
Problem: It makes personhood depend on the current level of technology. As
technology has improved, the viability point has become earlier in gestation.
Explain the view that personhood begins at birth and the difficulty with this view:
You now clearly have a life of your own. You cry and make your presence known.
Problem: It makes personhood depend on factors external to the baby, such as how
active the mother was during pregnancy, how your mother carried you, etc. If your
mother is more active, you might be born a week earlier than you would if your mother
was more sedentary.
