Hello everyone, I'll be seeing everybody on Friday, 7:30am at G103. I'm out of the campus for a fieldwork. In the meantime, please answer the following activity.
General Questions for the cases:
General Questions for the cases:
Read the cases. On a short bond paper answer the following questions.
1. What are your reactions to the cases presented below?
2. Are there any similarities and differences in the cases presented? What are these similarities? Differences?
3. On what grounds, would you say that they are similar or different?
4. Would you say that these are ethical situations? Why? How would you define ethics? What makes an action ethical or unethical in the first place?
Case Studies
1. Pregnant Rose
Rose and Henry are in their late teens, 18 and 19 years old respectively, and have been going steady for more than two years. Recently Rose found out that she is three months pregnant.
Rose and Henry would like to get married but there are problems. For one, the parents of the man object to a marriage. They reason that Henry is still studying, still dependent financially on them and therefore not ready to start a family. Besides, he is still very young and it is not sure that Rose is really the girl for him. Who knows, in a year’s time he may not feel the same way for her as he does now. They think that he should not be tied down to a marriage prematurely.
The parents of the girl, on the other hand, think that two should get married. Rose is pregnant. Her honor and reputation are at stake. They think that it is the man’s obligation to do the honorable thing and save Rose from embarrassment and scandal. As for the financial obligations, the parents of the man should shoulder those. They threaten that if the man will not marry Rose, they will go to court.
What should be the morally right decision?
2. The Farmer’s Plight
Science reports tell us that the ozone hole in the earth’s atmosphere is getting bigger; the ocean’s as a result of the warming of the earth’s temperature is rising; the forests, as a result of logging and indiscriminate use, is rapidly disappearing. Save the earth movements and concerned groups and individuals point out that there is a pressing need to protect the earth’s eco-system and unless these alarming events are controlled, the whole human race is on the road to disaster.
In the Philippines laws for the protection of the environment have been passed. There are laws against illegal logging, against slash and burn (kaingin system) system of farming, etc… But a conflict exists between the plight of the farmers and the protection of the environment. Farmers who are poor need to save a living from the land. They do this by means of the “kaingin system”. The farmers need to survive. Should their survival be sacrificed for the sake of the environment?
How can the conflict between the need to protect the environment and the farmer’s immediate need for survival be morally resolved?
3. Siamese Twins
Baby Fae and Baby Mae were born Siamese twins. They were joined in the lower end of the body. They shared the same heart and other internal organs, the one dependent on the other for life.
The doctors claim that Baby Fae and Baby Mae will die if both will remain joined. They recommend surgery to separate the two of them. However, an operation will mean certain death for one of the girls who will be left without the heart.
The parents refuse to consent to the operation. They are devout Catholics and they think that the fate of the girls should be left to God. The case was brought to Court who ordered an operation to separate the two girls.
What is the question here?
4. Marissa
On January 9, 10:00 pm, while returning from a short trip to the drugstore, Marissa Marquez was raped. She was attacked by two men, dragged into a dark field where she was raped, and physically beaten. After the crime was reported to the local authorities, the police conducted an intensive search for the two criminals. The two were apprehended and conclusively identified by Marissa.
Marissa now knows that she must face her attackers in court in two months, although she wonders privately whether she can look at them without crying. She has nightmares about the rape.
Shortly, after it happened, Marissa learned that she was pregnant. At eighteen, she is unmarried and works in a local department store. She has been going out with the same boy for the last two years, and they have often spoken of marriage. Her boyfriend thinks that whatever the rapist get is too good for them, and has advised her to get an abortion.
What should Marissa do?
