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BMC Medical Ethics Mar 2023The overarching aim of this article is to scrutinize how severity can work as a qualifier for the moral impetus of malady. While there is agreement that malady is of...
The overarching aim of this article is to scrutinize how severity can work as a qualifier for the moral impetus of malady. While there is agreement that malady is of negative value, there is disagreement about precisely how this is so. Nevertheless, alleviating disease, injury, and associated suffering is almost universally considered good. Furthermore, the strength of a diseased person's moral claims for our attention and efforts will inevitably vary. This article starts by reflecting on what kind of moral impetus malady incites. We then analyze how severity may qualify this impetus. We do so by discussing the relationship between severity and need, well-being and disvalue, death, urgency, rule of rescue, and distributive justice. We then summarize our thoughts about severity as a moral qualifier. We conclude that severity is, and should continue to be seen, as a morally significant concept that deserves continued attention in the future.
Topics: Humans; Morals; Social Justice; Dissent and Disputes
PubMed: 37004054
DOI: 10.1186/s12910-023-00903-2 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Jul 2017Do free will beliefs influence moral judgments? Answers to this question from theoretical and empirical perspectives are controversial. This study attempted to replicate...
Do free will beliefs influence moral judgments? Answers to this question from theoretical and empirical perspectives are controversial. This study attempted to replicate past research and offer theoretical insights by analyzing World Values Survey data from residents of 46 countries ( = 65,111 persons). Corroborating experimental findings, free will beliefs predicted intolerance of unethical behaviors and support for severe criminal punishment. Further, the link between free will beliefs and intolerance of unethical behavior was moderated by variations in countries' institutional integrity, defined as the degree to which countries had accountable, corruption-free public sectors. Free will beliefs predicted intolerance of unethical behaviors for residents of countries with high and moderate institutional integrity, but this correlation was not seen for countries with low institutional integrity. Free will beliefs predicted support for criminal punishment regardless of countries' institutional integrity. Results were robust across different operationalizations of institutional integrity and with or without statistical control variables.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Attitude; Criminals; Culture; Data Collection; Female; Humans; Internationality; Linear Models; Male; Middle Aged; Morals; Personal Autonomy; Punishment; Regression Analysis
PubMed: 28652361
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1702119114 -
Revista de Neurologia Mar 2014Morality is made of rules and values that guide human behavior. They barely change among different cultures. Social accomplishments are the result of moral development,... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
Morality is made of rules and values that guide human behavior. They barely change among different cultures. Social accomplishments are the result of moral development, due to a taint of fairness which pervades any human activity. The moral functions are the consequence of evolution and have their own specific neural circuits.
AIM
To describe their appearance, starting and underlying mechanisms in the normal brain.
DEVELOPMENT
Moral responses are basically homogeneous. They are linked to the emotional development, as much basic and individual (fear, wrath) as social (compassion, justice). Their emergence is the result of the emotional dichotomies pleasure/pain and reward/punishment, which lead to the basic moral dichotomy good/bad. For their working it is required the running of the prefrontal cortex (ventromedian and dorsolateral), the anterior cingular cortex and the superior temporal sulcus, that asses and elaborate and utilitarian moral response; and also the insula, the amygdale and the hypothalamus, that perform a quicker and emotionally rooted response. In addition, the mirror neuronal system (fronto-parietal) enables motor learning and empathy, linking this factor to the theory of mind.
CONCLUSIONS
Moral sense and its responses underlay the complex social development that humans have reached and enjoyed. Thus opens ways for improving benefits in human groups and individuals alike. In addition, the knowledge of the normal function of the moral circuits is permeating and influencing the many areas of neuroculture.
Topics: Brain Mapping; Choice Behavior; Emotions; Empathy; Ethics; Gyrus Cinguli; Humans; Learning; Limbic System; Mirror Neurons; Morals; Neuropsychology; Prefrontal Cortex; Psychological Tests; Social Behavior; Temporal Lobe; Theory of Mind
PubMed: 24570361
DOI: No ID Found -
Nursing Philosophy : An International... Jul 2022Person-centred care is founded on ethics as a basis for organizing care. In spite of healthcare systems claiming that they have implemented person-centred care, patients... (Review)
Review
Person-centred care is founded on ethics as a basis for organizing care. In spite of healthcare systems claiming that they have implemented person-centred care, patients report less satisfaction with care. These contrasting results require clarification of how to practice person-centred ethics using Paul Ricoeur's 'Little ethics', summarized as: 'aiming for the good life, with and for others in just institutions'. In this ethic Kantian morality is at once subordinate and complementary to Aristotelian ethics because the ethical goal needs to be critically assessed and passed through the examination of the norm in each care situation. This paper presents examples that describes a person-centred care practice that balance a critical review of care activities based on a conviction of aiming for patients' wellbeing. In contrast to patients' experiences of person-centred care in real life, research projects have shown that if the clinical performers comprehend and apply the practice of person-centred ethics, patients report positive outcomes. The implementation of person-centred care therefore demands that stakeholders and managers enables and requires that healthcare staff study ethics in the same way as studying for example pharmacology is required when handling patients' medicines.
Topics: Delivery of Health Care; Humans; Moral Obligations; Morals; Palliative Care; Patient-Centered Care
PubMed: 35213781
DOI: 10.1111/nup.12382 -
International Journal of Environmental... May 2022Using e-cigarettes for smoking cessation is a controversial topic among health experts. Evidence suggests that vaping might have been moralized among the general public....
Using e-cigarettes for smoking cessation is a controversial topic among health experts. Evidence suggests that vaping might have been moralized among the general public. Despite the detrimental consequences of moralizing health behaviors on social cohesion and health, some argue for using moralization strategically to prevent and combat vaping. We aim to add to the body of literature showing the dangers of moralization in health by proposing a person-centered approach to the moralization of anti-vaping attitudes. Our cross-sectional survey explores the moralization of anti-vaping attitudes and its predictors on a convenience sample of 348 Romanian never-vapers, before the final vote to severely restrict vaping. By fitting a hierarchical regression model on our data, we found support for a unique contribution of negative prototypes (β = 0.13) and opinions of vapers (β = 0.08) in predicting moralization, with significant contributions of piggybacking on moralized self-control, on moralized attitudes toward smoking and on sanctity/degradation, disgust, anger, harm to children, and gender. Together, these variables explained 56% of the variance of the moralization of anti-vaping attitudes. Our findings add to our knowledge of motivated moralization and advise against using moralization in health, suggesting that people may weaponize it to legitimize group dislike.
Topics: Attitude; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems; Humans; Smokers; Vaping
PubMed: 35565020
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19095628 -
Journal of Personality and Social... Aug 2011The moral domain is broader than the empathy and justice concerns assessed by existing measures of moral competence, and it is not just a subset of the values assessed...
The moral domain is broader than the empathy and justice concerns assessed by existing measures of moral competence, and it is not just a subset of the values assessed by value inventories. To fill the need for reliable and theoretically grounded measurement of the full range of moral concerns, we developed the Moral Foundations Questionnaire on the basis of a theoretical model of 5 universally available (but variably developed) sets of moral intuitions: Harm/Care, Fairness/Reciprocity, Ingroup/Loyalty, Authority/Respect, and Purity/Sanctity. We present evidence for the internal and external validity of the scale and the model, and in doing so we present new findings about morality: (a) Comparative model fitting of confirmatory factor analyses provides empirical justification for a 5-factor structure of moral concerns; (b) convergent/discriminant validity evidence suggests that moral concerns predict personality features and social group attitudes not previously considered morally relevant; and (c) we establish pragmatic validity of the measure in providing new knowledge and research opportunities concerning demographic and cultural differences in moral intuitions. These analyses provide evidence for the usefulness of Moral Foundations Theory in simultaneously increasing the scope and sharpening the resolution of psychological views of morality.
Topics: Adult; Attitude; Female; Humans; Intuition; Judgment; Male; Morals; Pilot Projects; Reproducibility of Results; Social Values; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 21244182
DOI: 10.1037/a0021847 -
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences Apr 2020Morality has two key features: (1) moral judgments are not solely determined by what your group thinks, and (2) moral judgments are often applied to members of other...
Morality has two key features: (1) moral judgments are not solely determined by what your group thinks, and (2) moral judgments are often applied to members of other groups as well as your own group. Cooperative motives do not explain how young children reject unfairness, and assert moral obligations, both inside and outside their groups. Resistance and experience with conflicts, alongside cooperation, is key to the emergence and development of moral obligation.
Topics: Child; Child, Preschool; Humans; Judgment; Moral Obligations; Morals
PubMed: 32349809
DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X19002401 -
Patient Education and Counseling Nov 2021Most writing about uncertainty in healthcare has addressed empirical uncertainty - that is, resulting from insufficient or conflicting facts.
BACKGROUND
Most writing about uncertainty in healthcare has addressed empirical uncertainty - that is, resulting from insufficient or conflicting facts.
OBJECTIVE
To consider moral uncertainty by exploring how different theories apply to a single clinical case.
METHOD
In this philosophical reflection, I briefly acknowledge empirical uncertainty before introducing and exploring the topic of moral uncertainty - defined as the question of what to do when we do not know what (morally) to do-using a case study of my own mother's deterioration and death from Covid-19.
RESULTS
I identify and apply a number of philosophical theories relevant to managing moral uncertainty, including utilitarianism, deontology, practical rationality and feminist philosophy.
CONCLUSION
Different moral theories lead to different conclusions about the best course of action in situations of moral uncertainty.
PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
Detailed analysis and close reading of a single case can provide insights into how to act in morally complex situations, but learning is in the form of enriched understanding, not formulaic rules.
Topics: COVID-19; Ethical Theory; Humans; Morals; SARS-CoV-2; Uncertainty
PubMed: 34294493
DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2021.07.022 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Jul 2014The idea that human morality might be the product of evolution is not popular. The reason is partly that the moral principles that actually govern our day-to-day...
The idea that human morality might be the product of evolution is not popular. The reason is partly that the moral principles that actually govern our day-to-day behavior have been idealized in a way that makes a natural origin seem impossible. This paper puts the case for a more down-to-earth assessment of human morality by arguing that the evolution of our sense of fairness can be traced to the practicalities of food-sharing. When animals share food, they can be seen as enjoying the fruits of an implicit bargain to ensure each other against hunger. The implications of this observation are explored using the tools of game theory. The arguments lead to a structure for fair bargains that closely resembles the structure proposed by John Rawls, the leading moral philosopher of the last century.
Topics: Animals; Biological Evolution; Cooperative Behavior; Empathy; Game Theory; Humans; Morals; Negotiating; Social Justice
PubMed: 25024181
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1400819111 -
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin Mar 2024Helping acts, however well intended and beneficial, sometimes involve immoral means or immoral helpers. Here, we explore whether help recipients consider moral...
Helping acts, however well intended and beneficial, sometimes involve immoral means or immoral helpers. Here, we explore whether help recipients consider moral evaluations in their appraisals of gratitude, a possibility that has been neglected by existing accounts of gratitude. Participants felt less grateful and more uneasy when offered immoral help (Study 1, = 150), and when offered morally neutral help by an immoral helper (Study 2, = 172). In response to immoral help or helpers, participants were less likely to accept the help and less willing to strengthen their relationship with the helper even when they accepted it. Study 3 ( = 276) showed that recipients who felt grateful when offered immoral help were perceived as less likable, less moral, and less suitable as close relationship partners than those who felt uneasy by observers. Our results demonstrate that gratitude is morally sensitive and suggest this might be socially adaptive.
Topics: Humans; Emotions; Morals
PubMed: 35532002
DOI: 10.1177/01461672221092273