Ethics and Public Policy - Coursework Example

Part One. 3-4 pages (Based on Chapters 3 Define, explicate and explain the four theories and give specific examples of each theory. The examples must focus an ethical context. 1. Kantian Theories of Duty: The ethical theory of Immanuel Kant is considered as one of the important deontological ethics in philosophy. He argues that as human beings we have moral duties and obligations to our fellow beings. Kant argues that since the world is governed by laws, human nature is also governed by self-given laws. He remarks that people are free agent and it is called categorical imperative. Kant defined two imperatives - the first being the hypothetical imperative which compels action in a certain circumstance: “if I want to be clean, I must wash.” A categorical imperative, on the other hand, is an absolute, unconditional requirement that is authoritative in all circumstances, both required and justified as an end ‘in itself.’ (Explain the Place of Duty Within Kantian Ethics). Regarding the first formulation ‘hypothetical imperative’, he sates that we cannot act according to maxims which would be self-frustrating. Regarding the second formulation ‘categorical imperative’, he states that we always should treat people with dignity not merely as an instrument for our purpose of satisfaction. For example, when we are helping an old person to cross the road or donating to charity, these are based on our inherent values and not to show or to get respect from others. That means, when we do an action, it is fully to promote good and not to satisfy our personal desires. Thus, duty is the primary principle of Kant’s ethics. 2. Utilitarianism: The earliest fully developed theories of Utilitarianism were formulated by Jeremy Bentham. This theory has two components, the act-utilitarianism and hedonistic utilitarianism. The former theory says that we need to tally or evaluate the action case by case whether it is morally right or wrong. The latter one defines that the sum of pleasure and pain determine whether the action is moral or wrong. . “First, according to act-utilitarianism, it would be morally wrong to waste time on leisure activities such as watching television, since our time could be spent in ways that produced a greater social benefit, such as charity work. But prohibiting leisure activities doesnt seem reasonable.” (Fieser). Hence, the ‘act-utilitarianism’ weighs the consequences of each particular action. The second theory ‘hedonistic utilitarianism’ weighs on the basis of pain and pleasure of an act. If one action benefits many people and give marginal pain, then it would be a moral act. In this approach every action is calculated on the basis of cost-benefit factor. For example, if construction of new roads will accelerate the transportation facility, minimize the traffic jams and increase the economic growth of the country and only displaces limited number of people, then it will be a moral act of increasing the social product of the country. 3. Rawlss Theory of Justice: Rawls’s theory is based on two basic principles; the first principle promotes maximum liberty without harming the rights and liberty of others and second principle says equal distribution and access of resources or envisages an egalitarian society. The first theory was non-controversial principle. It is an informal social contact between individuals and society. Individuals can enjoy their maximum freedom if it does not harm or interfere in the freedom of other individuals. The government and other social control mechanism do not act as obstacles if it is a healthy process. On the other hand it implies that Government has a moral right to protect the right of the individual. The second theory is more debatable in terms of the well-being of the least advantaged segment of the population. It visualizes equal distribution of goods and resource to all; especially the social goods like education, health and employment to the marginal population of the society also. For example, reservation and financial assistance for poor students in higher education program and government schemes like free social security schemes for low income group of the society. But Robert Nozick points out that in the contemporary world we need to identify some criteria for the equal distribution of the resources. The main criteria are: according to merit; need based; random selection or with help policies and procedures. (Bluhm and Heineman). 4. Libertarianism: The libertarianism approach allows every person to live according to his pleasure without interference from others. It promotes personal liberty to live according to individual choice and strongly rejects utilitarianism’s concept of total social well-being. The concept respects individual liberty and if an individual is not doing any harm then no person, group or government have the right to interfere in his personal freedom. For example, if State is imposing taxes on their citizens to support weaker group of the country, this act cannot be justified in Libertarianism view. This approach argues that individual needs to live according to his will or choice not by forcing them to support projects, policies, or persons they have not freely chosen to support. (Bluhm and Heineman). 2) Relying on your required text and readings, including the websites and minilectures, explain how ethics is related to public policy. Ethics and public policy have a long tradition in western philosophy. In today’s digital world we need public polices related to all fields like electronic and print media, internet, trade, health care etc. In the ancient tradition the Aristotelian conception of the relation between ethics and public policy stresses the idea that the passage between moral and political sphere is done through language or oral medium. Later Kant’s conception of morality mainly focused on action or duties. The academic institutions and political bodies played a great role in the modern ethical principle. The parliament has a very pioneer role in the formation of modern ethical principles. Press media, TV, Radio also act as a mediator between public policy and civil society. In the 20th century the digital network medium like internet, and drastic development of science and technology questioned the aspect of old ethical values and policies. In the modern society religion has minimized role even though religion played a very good role in the formation of early moralities. Modern science and technology challenge basic philosophic ideologies and act as a medium directly or indirectly to insecure the moral standards that were either sanctioned by law or moral ideologists. Now it has become the role of multi or pluralistic associations or organizations to formulate ethical values within the framework of emphatic studies. Now public policies within the framework of ethics are needed in every discipline. Like in the field of science and technology, political decisions of the state are needed in the fields of healthcare, sports, religion and various other fields. (Capurro). Part Two: 4-6 pages (Based on Chapters 4-5) write an essay in which you summarize the main themes in chapters 3-5. In other words, explain, define and give examples of the following concepts 1. Prudent Pragmatism: In the early stages we adopted case method to decide whether an action is moral or wrong. Because of the advancement of technology and complexity in today’s world it is important to think on the empirical way to make a conclusion of the ethical issues. Systematic methods include various processes of studying and experiencing the specific problem or situation. In this process we need to take care of the multidimensional view of the problems and counsel with other people for the solution. Ethics is an area which is not always absolutely certain, in this process also there are limitations but it is more apt to the modern world. For example, if an article says 40 % women are drug addicts in the state, for making conclusion we need to adopt methods like research, survey or other experiments. This process involves various steps like, data collection from samples, testing hypothesis, collecting literature from primary and secondary methods etc. Then we analyze and interpret the result. After the final stage only we can make a conclusion. In the field of healthcare it is a serious issue in terms of ethics. Monistic and Pluralistic Societies: This is a form of society which is made up of people from different ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds. A society which embraces minority groups is tolerant towards them. In the beginning of cases morality and mortality laws existed in which liberalism and division of public and private was not considered very important. But in pluralistic society the universe is explicable in terms of many principles or composed of many ultimate substances. It describes no particular system and may be embodied in such opposed philosophical concepts as (Pluralism). Casuistry in Medieval Society: In this method the value system of society is dictated on the natural and divine laws. In the 16th century both Roman Catholics and Protestants adopted this method for teaching the believers. “Casuistry is a method of resolving questions of conscience by applying moral principles or laws to concrete cases. The term casuistry is usually restricted to the realm of ethics or moral theology. Casuistry has been used as a teaching vehicle by religions and philosophies seeking to inculcate a moral code, most notably in Confucianism, Stoicism, Talmudic Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.” (Casuistry). With development of capitalism and widening of political structure, Casuistry society found that it is necessary to reshape the ideologies according to economic development. For example, the collection of interest for loan is against the ideology of Casuistries. But they faced difficulties to cope with the trends of the society and after 1940 the system emerged on the basis of situational ethics and promoters say that moral decisions are based on situation and individual based and it is very difficult to apply universal law in this context. Citizenship in Democracy: The strength of the democracy is the grass root level commitment of the citizens and their ethical values. In the case of citizen ethics will be oriented towards common good or general interest. It is proved that a democratic country can grow in all aspects as an institution. But the quality of the citizens is a major factor for deciding the quality of that institution. The progress of the political system cannot be attained by mere change in the existing political system, but the attitude of citizens needs to be changed. The active participation in terms of all economical and social goods like health, employment, gender etc can mold an empowered citizenship in the political system. The current trend of the industry is to invest in the people or human resources. We need to apply the same principle in this process also. The Liberal democratic model posits a world of instrumentally rational atoms, who are politically aware, oriented to issues, self interested, able to make reasonable and independent judgments, and strategic in their behavior. (Bluhm and Heineman, P.49). The ethical theory of the classical liberals argued that society is a collection of self-interested people and social good is the sum of greatest individual preferences. The critic pointed out that the individuals world is alike an economic men and act as machines. People participate in politics either by the fear of alienation from the society or for fulfilling the desires of self. In the prudent pragmatism people will emphatically think and judge with reasoning of problem and situational aspects of the politics. In the above mentioned models there are lots of obstacles also. For example, in American History many associations that have formed locally would have greater members and are stronghold in their fields. So members of these associations are more connected to market than politics. In short, if we want to be prudent citizens we need to be deliberative democracy. We must analyze our values as citizens and not as consumers. As informed citizens we need to supply representatives and actively participate and help them in giving appropriate information for drafting policies and legislations for common good. We have to use possible medium for this purpose like internet, email, Pressure groups fellow citizens for the country’s common good. (Bluhm and Heineman). Representatives and Representation: We need to select our representative with consciousness in several levels of politics - local, state and national. For example for regions we have senate members and President for whole nation. Judge is also our representative, who interprets the laws in the framework of constitution. The function of legislator is to act as a representative for his/her place. In American politics there are 2 representations; first one is called mandate theory of representation in which he/she ought to do what he/she has been assigned to perform in his/her particular constituency. It is a difficult process where representative needs to filter the voice of his/her constituency and speak out for them. In this process constituents supply raw material from grass root level and representative, with the help of their reasoning, needs to present at top level. Executives: In American politics President is considered as the chief legislator. He can use his veto power over acts of Congress if situation arises. President needs to present annual plan of action, set of proposals with priority basis in the congress. It will help to grab all the concerns and problems of pluralistic society as a representative of public. One of the ethical concerns of this process is that the legislators and executives will act within the framework of common values and many of them are not using their private right and reasoning. For example, in the case of abortion the US has to make law according to the will of Roman Catholic community and not because the abortion is sinful act. Hence it again shows that we are not full pluralist society of common people. (Bluhm and Heineman). Ethicists as Policy Analysts: The policy analysis is a process done by experts. They are special educationists with special knowledge in their respective area. But in democracy the citizens are equal in all aspects. In earlier years the policy analysis wing mainly dealt with economic and not the welfare or social values of whole nation. It made laws for the individuals who are paying well, and not for the social good of the society as whole. But now the trend of policy analyst needs to be redefined. Now they have to concern for the public at large and need special education for dealing each area. With the recent advancement of the technology and more access and control over nature, the ethics of public policy is always a questionable factor. For example, cloning and euthanasia is an ethical concern for policy makers. So we need to take a decision with consultation of all people related to particular problem and not according to his private interest. (Bluhm and Heineman). Part Three: 2 pages. How do the above concepts apply to the philosophical question of "legislating morality"? In other words, is it the responsibility of government to legislate moral principles? If so, how do we implement a policy governing a moral issue? Give a specific example. Morality is about right and wrong. But law is not the source of morality. Every generation has the same slogan of legislating morality. All the political ideologies, liberal, conservative, republican argue for the legislation of morality. The connection between law and the element of morality is sometimes very hard to perceive. Morality comes from mind and nature of human being; not by imposition of law on them. Some laws are direct expressions of widely accepted moral principles, such as laws prohibiting theft. But on other hand some moralities fully depend on situation and person. The laws such as wearing helmet, seatbelt and obeying traffic rules while driving vehicle is to avoid risk and consequence of personal burden and society as whole. The morality of reservation for studies or religious belief is found to be offensive by some people, but there are others who agree to be obey it. Abortion is an example to illustrate how morality is always legislated and imposed on others. Abortion has a destructive impact on the morality of society. According to the law it is illegal to defraud or injure other human beings. The right to life is one of the basic rights of every individual in America. If we are not protecting this right of an individual every other system will collapse. If we are destructing the life of a human being through abortion, it is nothing but denying his/her personal life or murdering a human being. If fetus is a person, then abortion is murdering and it is illegal. Even if the fetus is a person and abortion unethical, it should not be prevented through unethical means. But it is an unethical implication to a woman who lives in a democratic country. Another important question is about the liberty of sexual activities and moral obligation as a father of the child. There is always a debate as to whether it is ethical to give birth to an unwanted child. There are both religious and political dimension on this issue. Abortion is a serious issue in terms of the nature of personhood, the nature of rights, human relationships, personal autonomy and many other issues. For some people it is purely secular and others have based on religious values. In short, while the pro-life side wants to impose continued pregnancy on the mother, the pro-abortion side wants to impose death on the baby. We need more than laws to make people good. Their hearts and attitudes need to be moralized. So before implementing the legal frame for this issue we need to make the public aware of the multi dimensional consequence of this issue. (Cline). Works Cited Bluhm, William., and Heineman, Robert. Ethics and Public Policy: Methods and Cases. Pearson Prentice Hall. Bluhm, William., and Heineman, Robert. Ethics and Public Policy: Methods and Cases. Citizen in a democracy. Pearson Prentice Hall publisher. Capurro, Rafael. Ethics and Public Policy within a Digital Environment. 2002. 06 Feb. 2009. . Casuistry. MSN Encarta. 2008. 06 Feb. 2009. . Cline, Austin. Ethics of Abortion: Is it Moral or Immoral to have Abortion. About.com. 2009. . Explain the Place of Duty Within Kantian Ethics. Fiction Press.com. 2009. 06 Feb. 2009. . Fieser, James. Types of Utilitarianism. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2006. 06 Feb. 2009. . Pluralism. Farlex. 2009. 06 Feb. 2009. . Read More