Discussion Post
On page 102 of the Gibson text, he says, “Classical ethical theories can support many fundamental rights: For instance, a deontologist, consequentialist, and virtue theorist could all give sound reasons for abolishing slavery.” How would each of these ethical theories approach the issue of climate change in our current world?
Reply to Logan
I believe the answer to who is in the wrong depends on what someone values more. If you value your freedom so much that you believe wearing a mask infringes on your rights, then you would say it’s the hospital’s fault. On the other hand, if you value the overall health of society and wearing a mask doesn’t bother you in anyway, then it’s the non-mask wearer’s fault. It all depends on perspective, but I feel as though it would be the individuals who refused to wear masks and contracted COVID 19. I think if they set aside their opinions on if wearing a mask infringes on their freedom or not and just wore them to lessen the spread of infection, it would most likely cause there to be beds available for John Doe and other patients. I think in times of crisis individuals need to have a consequentialism perspective. When any situation like or regarding a quarantine like we had experienced three-four years ago, I think people need to focus on doing what they can to achieve what is best for society even if the methods to do so are immoral in some people’s eyes. I know a lot of Americans believed that wearing a mask was immoral saying it took away their rights or freedom if they are required to wear one, but if you focus on the consequences when you wear one or not, then they would reconsider. Not wearing one doesn’t only put you at risk of getting the virus but higher the risk for every single person you’re in contact with. Wearing one prevents getting it or spreading it by a sizable number. I think the idea of doing what is best for society at possibly the cost of your own comfort or beliefs to create a better future should be top priority during hard times for everyone. So, if these people were wearing masks and didn’t get COVID 19 or spread it to even more people, there may have been a chance for John Doe to survive.
Reply to Chris::
I will be using the moral theory of consequentialism to go through this moral dilemma. Consequentialism, according to the textbook, is defined as, ” less concerned with personal character or motives but looks instead to the consequences of the decisions we make. “. For this scenario but also for a lot of other scenarios in life, I do not think the right thing is putting all the blame on one person, but instead it is most likely a combination of all the variables at play. In this moral dilemma, the blame can be put on everyone mentioned, the reckless people who did not wear a mask, under prepared hospitals, governmental systems, federal, state, and local, that denied the true impact of COVID 19, as well as John Doe and his family for not having a plan in place for emergency’s. Firstly, the people who decided not to wear masks and did not follow CDC guidelines are at partial fault because the result of their actions contributed and lead to an increase of covid cases and overfilled hospitals leading to John Doe death. The hospitals play a small part in John Doe as the outcome of their actions in not having enough space for everyone lead to the death of John Doe, because he had to be driven to a farther hospital. Even though they could not have known about covid and the strain it will have on the hospitals, maybe an earlier decision was made by the hospital decided to not expand the hospitals in the earlier years to instead give bonuses to board members can put the hospital at some fault for negligence. Government systems are at fault as well because their actions of not taking it seriously in the beginning lead to outcome of a rapid spike in covid cases, leading to more people taking up space in the hospital, and not leaving room for John Doe. John Doe and his family can have some blame as well for his needless death as possibly he was living an unhealthy lifestyle with could increase his risk of a heart attack, which led to his unfortunate death, which means his lifestyle was bad because of the outcome it caused.
