1. Deontology in practical ethics
Michael Lacewing
© Michael Lacewing

2. Deontology Morality is a matter of duty.
Whether something is right or wrong doesn’t depend on its consequences. Actions are right or wrong in themselves.
Different answers to how we can discover our duties; Kant says ‘pure reason’
Actions are defined by intentions, e.g. the difference between murder and killing in self-defence.

3. Practical ethics: warnings
Morality v. legality
Whether a practice should be legalized is a separate debate from whether it is morally acceptable.
Don’t get into metaethics
The premise of practical ethics is that we are searching for the (or a) right thing to do. So don’t start talking about relativism or subjectivism.

4. Euthanasia 6 types of euthanasia A first objection: Slippery slope
Involuntary, voluntary, non-voluntary
Passive, active
A first objection: Slippery slope
An action that is permitted may incline people to perform actions that aren’t permitted.

5. Two more warnings
Separate empirical (sociology, psychology) from philosophical
Don’t spend long discussing whether or not the slippery slope would actually occur.
The conclusion is often conditional
It is not just acceptable, but good, to say ‘if it turns out like this, then this follows’. E.g. ‘if allowing voluntary euthanasia in some cases caused people to seek it wrongly, then it would be wrong to allow it at all’

6. Active v. passive
Killing someone is different from letting them die. We shouldn’t kill people, but are not always required to prevent them from doing.
Can we kill people in euthanasia? Sanctity of life says no, and many doctors are reluctant

7. Voluntary euthanasia
Pro: passive euthanasia is not unjust, and is charitable
Con: bringing about death unnecessarily is always wrong
Kant: people who commit suicide destroy their rationality to avoid pain - i.e. they treat it as a means to an end; so euthanasia (to avoid pain) is wrong
What if you ask for euthanasia because you will lose your rationality, e.g. Alzheimer’s? Do we respect their dignity by giving them euthanasia?

8. Abortion: the right to life?
Does a foetus have a right to life?
If people have souls, when does the soul and body come together? Traditional Catholic doctrine: at conception - so the embryo is sacred, as all human life is, straight away
But:
Two-thirds of embryos spontaneously aborted
Some forms of contraception prevent the embryo implanting in the uterus wall
Until 14 days old, the embryo may split into two, becoming identical twins - one soul or two?

9. Sanctity and the right to life
So are embryos/foetuses sacred? Do they have a right to life? Are these two questions the same?
Why do human beings have a right to life? Is it something that distinguishes us from animals?
Soul
Reason
Language
Emotional experience
Morality
Just ‘being human’

10. Dividing people up
Apart from souls and ‘being human’, all other criteria are possessed by some human beings and not others, e.g. severe mental disability, senile dementia, permanent vegetative state
Yet we don’t think it is permissible to kill them for the benefit of others
Sentience: primitive consciousness of perception, pleasure, pain
This begins around 20 weeks, so foetuses before 20 weeks don’t have right to life.
Many animals are sentient - do they have a right to life?

11. Animal rights
Regan: Animals have a right to life if they are a ‘subject of a life’
Psychological states and identity
Point of view, life matters
Is an animal’s right to life as strong as a human being’s?

12. Two final warnings Avoid oversimplification
Normative theories might not deliver just one answer, but give reasons both for and against. Noting this is important for evaluation.
Don’t say ‘Who knows? Who can say?’
You are the thinker – this is your attempt to try to say.
Why think practical ethics should or could be easy?

13. The argument from potential
Foetuses are have a right to life because they will become a person with a right to life if allowed to develop
But:
Sperm and egg prior to conception have this potential, if allowed to conjoin
Does potential matter? A student, who has the potential to become a teacher, is not put in charge of lessons until trained as a teacher; you can’t spend money you don’t have yet

14. The right to choose
Even if the foetus doesn’t have a right to life, it might be wrong to kill it.
But: people have a right to do what they want with their bodies. Until it can survive outside her body, the foetus is part of the woman’s body
Even if the foetus does have a right to life, the right to choose may take precedence.