ipl-logo

Kantian Deontology And Lies To The Family

910 Words4 Pages

Case study 2.3 pertains to the situation where a family’s daughter is subjected to renal failure and needs a kidney transplant in order to survive. The tests show that the father is a donor match, and the donation will be the daughter’s best chance for survival. However, the father is afraid to give up his kidney. The father asks me (the doctor) to lie and tell the family that none of them are an appropriate match. The main ethical issue in this case would be whether or not the doctor lies to the family about the father’s test results. What would I do in this situation? To help answer this question we will evaluate this ethical issue by using two moral theories; act utilitarianism, and kantian deontology. We can evaluate this situation by …show more content…

By using Kant’s two formulations of the categorical imperative we can gain insight on what is the right thing to do. First, we can use Kant’s first formulation of the categorical imperative which is universalizing the maxim. However before we test our actions against the first formulation, we must consider our actions a maxim (rule). Now lets consider the action where I lie to the family and test it maxim against the first formulation. We must ask ourselves, is this maxim consistent? The answer is no. The maxim of lying is considered to be inconsistent which means that it cannot be universalized. Reason being, if lying is universalized then everybody would lie and there would be distrust among the public. When this happens, a lie cannot work because no one would believe the lie. At this point we say the lie is self defeating. Kant’s second formulation of the categorical imperative tells us we must treat people as ends and not means. When we evaluate the ethical issue of telling the truth to the family against the fathers wishes it is reasonable to say that we are looking at the father as a means to the doctors goal of healing the daughter as an end. It is reasonable to say that we are looking at the father as a means to the doctors goal which is an end. This is morally wrong. Kant tells us that everyone is considered morally equal meaning, no person is more valued than the next. The second formulation suggests that we cannot tell the family that the father is a good

Show More
Related
303 Words | 2 Pages

An amended lawsuit filed on August 7, 2015 gives details on Nick Gordon physically abusing Bobbi Kristina just days before he gave her that “toxic cocktail and pushed her face down into the bathtub of cold water. Nick Gordon lunged at Bobbi Kristina as she sat on the couch. He punched her in the face so hard that the couch broke. The impact sent Bobbi Kristina to the floor. However, Nick didn’t quit there.

Read More
364 Words | 2 Pages

In Joseph Collins article, “Should Doctors Tell the Truth?” he states that doctors shouldn’t tell the truth to their patients that deals with their life and death. Collins argued that doctor should withhold the truth on any circumstances. For example, when Collins blamed himself because of the death of a lawyer who suffered from kidney disease, only if he had lied to the lawyer about his health issue, the lawyer still could have been alive. However, I believe that doctors should always tell the truth to their patients regardless of the circumstances because withholding information violates patient’s autonomy and harms the doctor-patient relationship.

Read More
1070 Words | 5 Pages

Sissela Bok explores the moral and ethical complexities of lying and deception in her book, Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life. One of the scenarios she considers is the normalization of lying and deception in medical contexts, such as in patient-doctor communication. Bok gives an example scenario of a patient who has just been diagnosed with cancer and has no other treatment options. The physician faces a difficult decision: whether to inform the patient of their diagnosis and the low chance of success with chemotherapy or to lie about the possibility of treatment. The physician chooses to tell the patient their cancer diagnosis but does not inform them of chemotherapy.

Read More
589 Words | 3 Pages

A moral dilemma that arises in a doctor-patient relationship is whether or not the doctor should always tell their patient the truth about their health. Although withholding information was a common practice in the past, in today’s world, patient autonomy is more important than paternalism. Many still are asking if it is ever morally permissible for a doctor to lie to a patient, though. David C. Thomasma writes that truth-telling is important as a right, a utility, and a kindness, but other values may be more important in certain instances. The truth is a right because respect for the person demands it.

Read More
957 Words | 4 Pages

Dystopian novels have an entrancing factor that allows them to captivate the American public like no other genre. The mass popularity gained by these novels can be seen dating all the way back to 1950’s with the publishing of George Orwell’s 1984, and through the present day with the publication of various dystopian novels such as Divergent, Maze Runner, and The Hunger Games. The main reason why these dystopian worlds resonate with so many people is because they address present day problems in outlandish but conceivable ways, "whatever its artistic or philosophic qualities, a book about the future can interest us only if its prophecies look as though they might conceivably come true. "(Beauchamp). While The Handmaid 's Tale focus on a variety of issues, such as the mistreatment of women, it also realistically illustrates the mental deterioration that occurs during prolonged periods of isolation in captivity.

Read More
1238 Words | 5 Pages

A maxim which can be deemed as an individual’s principle and that you must apply this principle

Read More
338 Words | 2 Pages

Thesis statement: Lying can be justified when it creates more

Read More
507 Words | 3 Pages

Kant also thought it was possible for pure reason to discover objective ethical truths. Kant believed that ethical truths must be categorical, universal, and be the product of reason. Kant’s categorical imperative states that a person should always act in such a way that they could will that act should be a universal law. This means that Kant thought that it was best to do the right thing, even if the person didn’t want to. This view of ethics focuses on what is right to do.

Read More
799 Words | 4 Pages

St. John Paul wrote a statement called “The Letter to Families”. His message was addressed to one of the most fundamental institutions in our society, the family. In the former Pope’s letter, he explained the Fourth Commandment: “Honour thy Father and Mother” in detail and what it means to truly “honour” them. This is because the institution of the family has been under threat as a result of divorce, hatred and selfishness that weakens the love between parents and children. Moreover, as a commandment from God, it is a duty for all families to abide by it.

Read More
154 Words | 1 Pages

The final ethical theory is Kant’s deontology. Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who admire the stoics for their dedication to performing their duties and playing their part. He based his theory on duties, obligations, and rights. Its main focus is that everyone has an inherited right. It highlights the importance of respecting a person autonomy.

Read More
1207 Words | 5 Pages

For Kant, his ethics are grounded on reason and pure reason alone. It is a matter of a priori vs a posteriori. A priori is knowing the truth of the judgement, regardless of empirical view. An example of a priori would be that a single

Read More
616 Words | 3 Pages

At last,i believe that there are many reasons why lying is justified and that it matters because a lot of people lie everyday or at a point in

Read More
1228 Words | 5 Pages

Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill are two of the most notable philosophers in normative ethics. This branch of ethics is based on moral standards that determine what is considered morally right and wrong. This paper will focus on Immanuel Kant’s theory of deontology and J.S. Mill’s theory of utilitarianism. While Mill takes a consequentialist approach, focused on the belief that actions are right if they are for the benefit of a majority, Kant is solely concerned with the nature of duty and obligation, regardless of the outcome. This paper will also reveal that Kantian ethics, in my opinion, is a better moral law to follow compared to the utilitarian position.

Read More
1000 Words | 4 Pages

When France fell under the Nazi occupation, Andre and Magda Trocme did all in their power to save Jewish people from the vicious hands of the Nazis. As the Pastor of a town, Andre encouraged the people to give shelter for Jewish refugees. Even when the Vichy authorities order him to provide a list of the Jews in the town, he refused and said: "We do not know what a Jew is. We only know human beings" (Hallie, 1979, p.103). Was his lie just?

Read More
1959 Words | 8 Pages

Lying is against Deontologist school of thought because it is irrational when following the categorical imperative and it hijacks autonomous decision making. The maxim followed is: “Lying is always wrong”. We must consider what this means for an argument - when is it attractive to lie, but we still must refrain? It is attractive to lie when we feel like we are trying to help the situation by skirting around the truth.

Read More

More about Kantian Deontology And Lies To The Family

Related Topics

Open Document