Ethics In Action

Through the analysis of forty ethical dilemmas drawn from real-life situations, Ethics in Action guides the reader through a process of moral deliberation that leads to the resolution of a variety of moral dilemmas.

• Fosters critical thinking by evaluating the reasons people give to support their choices and actions
• Challenges the paradigm of moral relativism that often impedes efforts to resolve moral dilemmas
• Incorporates international perspectives often lacking in texts published for a U.S. audience

About the Authors xi

Foreword by Robert F. Ladenson xiii

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction 1
Peggy Connolly

Part I Ethical Reasoning 9

1 A Brief Overview of Basic Ethical Theory 11
David R. Keller

2 A Framework for Moral Reasoning 50
Eric H. Gampel

Part II Cases and Commentaries 79

3 The Eye of the Beholder: Ethical Issues in the Arts 81

Case One: Monumental Controversies – The FDR Memorial 82

Case Two: Fire Sale – Destroying Privately Owned Works of Art 100

Case Three: What Price Immortality? – The Body Worlds Exhibition 112

Case Four: Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers? – Returning Antiquities to Their Countries of Origin 120

Case Five: Faux Paws – The Genetically Engineered Bunny 130

4 Green Achers: Ethical Issues and the Environment 132
Case Six: All Used Up and Nowhere to Glow – Goshute Nuclear Waste Siting and Native American Sovereignty 133

Case Seven: Not in My Back Yard – Environmental Injustice and “Cancer Alley” 148

Case Eight: The Boiled Frog – Global Warming, US Interests, and Vulnerable Nations 164

Case Nine: A Gorilla on the Grill is Worth Two in the Bush – Wild Meat, Malnutrition, and Biological Conservation 179

Case Ten: Future Farmers – The Ecology, Economics, and Ethics of Genetically Modified Rice 186

Case Eleven: Till Rivers Run Dry – Mexican-American Water Politics 194

5 Plays Well With Others? Ethical Issues in Intra-social Conflicts 199

Case Twelve: Am I My Brother’s Keeper? – What Are Friends For? 200

Case Thirteen: Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Healthcare Professionals – Recruiting Nurses from Developing Nations 209

Case Fourteen: Deadly Secrets – Releasing Confidential Medical Records to Law-Enforcement Officers 225

Case Fifteen: Perish the Thought! – Academic Affairs and “Community Values” 235

Case Sixteen: The Sound and the Fury – Noises and Neighbors 245

Case Seventeen: Shoot to Thrill – Gun Schools in the United States 250

6 Healthy, Wealthy and Whys: Ethical Issues in Healthcare 254

Case Eighteen: Whose Life Is It Anyway? – Collisions between Personal Conscience and Professional Obligations 255

Case Nineteen: Congratulations! Did You Have a Boy or a Girl? – Surgical Interventions on Infants with Disorders of Sex Development 270

Case Twenty: The Heart of the Matter – Who Decides When the Patient is Dead? 292

Case Twenty-one: Lip Service – Cosmetic Use of Cadaver Tissue 302

Case Twenty-two: Drug of Choice – Patients’ Access to Experimental Drugs 309

Case Twenty-three: A Fevered Hand on a Cooling Brow – The Nurse’s Role in Aid-in-dying 312

7 Business as Usual: Ethical Issues in the Marketplace 321

Case Twenty-four: Sale of a Lifetime – Ovum “Donation” 322

Case Twenty-five: Only God Can Make a Tree – Patenting Indigenous Plants 350

Case Twenty-six: Body Shop – International Trafficking in Human Organs 374

Case Twenty-seven: Straits of Strife – Japanese Whaling, Cultural Relativism, and International Politics 391

Case Twenty-eight: Big Pharma Wants You – Direct-to-consumer Advertising 399

Case Twenty-nine: This Gun’s For Hire – ExxonMobil and the Indonesian Military 405

8 Freedom From or Freedom To? Ethical Issues in Government 410

Case Thirty: Battle Scars – Suing the Government for Medical Malpractice 411

Case Thirty-one: Does the Past Mean Never Having to Say We’re Sorry? – Reparations and Apologies 429

Case Thirty-two: Words Fail – Institutional Responses to Creative Violence 434

Case Thirty-three: The Idealism of Youth – Civil Disobedience and the BYU Honor Code 442

Case Thirty-four: Britannia Waives the Rules – Collecting DNA on Arrestees 449

Case Thirty-five: Land of the Free – The Gun Ban at the University of Utah 456

9 School Days, School Daze: Ethical Issues in Education 463

Case Thirty-six: Sheepskin or Fleece? – Plagiarism in University Classrooms 464

Case Thirty-seven: Fire Up the Coffee Pot! Break Out the Ritalin! – Performance-enhancing Drugs in Academia 481

Case Thirty-eight: When an A is Not an A – Grade Inflation in Universities 491

Case Thirty-nine: Readin’, Writin’, and Rx-in’ – School Kids with Medical Needs 494

Case Forty: Promises, Promises – Selling Genetic Material for Institutional Gain 496

Part III The Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl 503

10 History of the Ethics Bowl 505

11 National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Competition 507

Preparation 507

12 Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl (IEB) Rules 510

Regional Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Rules 510

National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Championship Rules (2008) 513

""An admirable feature is that most cases are entirely real, with facts backed up by copious." (The Philosopher, Autumn 2010)

"For those tired of the usual text in moral or social problems, Ethics in Action offers a welcome vacation. While most of the topics are familiar (the environment, social relations, biomedical ethics, and so on), most of the cases in those sections are not. All the cases are interesting in themselves. No trolley problems here!"
- Michael Davis, Illinois Institute of Technology

"This well-written book admirably shows how case-driven moral reasoning is a complex, sophisticated process, one grounded in a rational framework. Readers will learn much from the authors' approach and be deeply challenged by the cases."
- Christopher Meyers, Kegley Institute of Ethics

"This book provides an invaluable resource for classroom discussion. It is rich with examples that will draw students into a deeper exploration of theory. A must-have for anyone serious about teaching ethics."
- Aine Donovan, Dartmouth College

Peggy Connolly, EdD, chair, Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl national case-writing committee

David R. Keller, PhD, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for the Study of Ethics, Utah Valley University

Martin G. Leever, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, MI

Becky Cox-White, PhD, Professor, Department of Philosophy, and Fellow, Center for Applied and Professional Ethics, California State University, Chico, Chico, CA

It's difficult to always know the "right" thing to do. Contemporary life is fraught with situations where the choices that confront us are morally problematic. Ethics in Action demonstrates the prevalence of moral quandaries we face on an almost daily basis, and provides us with the moral problem-solving skills to meet them.

Utilizing forty "real-life" ethical dilemmas drawn from personal and professional experiences and media accounts, Ethics in Action subjects each case study to rigorous analyses using a systematic method for resolving moral dilemmas. Moral dilemmas are considered from multiple perspectives: one commentator arguing for a particular solution, a second commentator arguing against that solution, and a third commentator demonstrating why neither solution is complete in and of itself and demonstrating, through an expanded moral analysis, the morally preferable solution. As a result, the reader is shown the value of discourse in moral problem solving while being guided through a process of moral deliberation that leads to ethically defensible resolutions of moral dilemmas across a wide range of disciplines.

Ethics in Action provides readers with valuable critical-thinking skills to meet the challenges of ethical dilemmas and moral ambiguity they face every day—while inspiring us all to keep our moral compasses pointing in the right direction.