Transcript Virginia A. Brown

Presented by
Virginia A. Brown, MA
Program Coordinator/Instructor
HU, College of Medicine, C&FP
Program in Health Care Ethics
PURPOSE

Develop a practice-oriented philosophy
that links ethical reasoning with ethical
action(s) in “real life” situations.
Terms of Art…

Morality vs. Ethics

Normative Ethics

Ethical Reasoning, a process
Problem



Ethics and morality are often used
interchangeably.
Ethics stems from the Greek word ethos,
meaning character.
Morality is from the Latin word mores,
meaning character, custom, or habit.
Normative Ethics
 …”[T]hat
pole of ethical theory that stood
closet to practice.”¹
 Thus
the idea is that the task of “…normative
ethics is to define and to defend an adequate
theory for guiding conduct.²
Post Modernity




Liberal (great sound bites)
Conservative (as seen on Fox TV)
Consensus (as seen on Oprah and Dr. Laura)
Religious Right (Farwell approved)
Preamble
Howard University affirms that the central purpose
of a university is the pursuit of
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
truth,
the discovery of new knowledge through
scholarly research,
the teaching and overall development of
students, and
the transmission of knowledge and learning to
the world at large.
H-Book 2006-2007, p 82
ACADEMIC CODE OF
STUDENT CONDUCT
Howard University is a community of
scholars composed of faculty and
students both of whom must hold the
pursuit of learning and search for truth
in the highest regard.
 Such regard requires adherence to the
goal of unquestionable integrity and
honesty in the discharge of teaching and
learning responsibilities.

p 102
continued…

. . . no
place for academic
dishonesty.
p 102
Definitions of Academic Infractions

“1. Academic cheating-any intentional act(s) of
dishonesty in the fulfillment of academic course or
program requirements.”

“2. Plagiarism-to take and pass off intentionally as one’s
own, the ideas, writings, etc., of another, without
attribution (without acknowledging the author).”
p 102
Ethical Reasoning: A
Case Discussion
Interested Parties
Think progressive ordering of
people form the person facing the
ethical problem,
 to the person (s) immediately
affected,
 to peer,
 to employer, (university,
department, etc.),
 to society in general.
Obligations


Primary: Obligations
of the protagonist
toward the various
interested parties
Refer to the moral
justification in terms
of values, principles,
character, or
outcomes
Consequences/Recommendation

Each action
considered=several
possible outcomes

Identify consequences
that have a good
probability of occurring

Do not create additional
problems
So just who are you?

What is the source of your
moral center?

What is the source of
authority regarding your
professional conduct?

How do you justify your
professional actions?

Do they conflict?

When they do, what will you
do?
The Road Not Taken

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I
took the one less traveled by, And that has
made all the difference.
Robert Frost, The Road Less Traveled