Deontological Approach Research Articles

Value, Time, and Existence: Debates in The Ethics of Killing Animals

Abstract In this article, I review The Ethics of Killing Animals, discussing its relevance in the contemporary debate and critiquing its authors’ discussion of time. The book covers a multitude of topics, including value theory, identity, the replaceability argument, a Kantian deontological approach to animal rights, and the political rights of nonhuman animals. In particular, the work focuses on three debates: Whether or not happiness and suffering should be symmetrically or asymmetrically weighted in moral considerations; whether or not nonhuman animals conceive of themselves as existing through time; and whether or not existence may be legitimately compared with nonexistence.

Combatting Identity Theft: A Proposed Ethical Policy Statement and Best Practices

The purpose of this article is to explore the law related to identity theft, to review corresponding rights, and responsibilities of stakeholders involved in identity theft and to formulate a system of best practices businesses could engage in to prevent or reduce identity theft threats. Utilizing two ethical frameworks based on deontological approaches, the authors conclude that there should be a well-defined management scheme to prevent identity theft, which is easy to comprehend and comply with for all stakeholders. Our proposed management scheme incorporates both legal and ethical elements such that identity theft will be more difficult. Further, our proposal would also address business entities’ practices that are so careless that identity theft is made possible at all or made easier: ethical business practice can do much to reduce or eliminate identity theft.

Incentives for HIV testing at the workplace in the automotive industry in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality: Ethical considerations

Comprehensive HIV and AIDS workplace programmes made use of substantial lottery incentives in HIV counselling and testing drives to promote HIV testing at four companies in the automotive industry in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The main aim was to use lottery incentives to increase uptake for HIV testing. This would help to define company HIV prevalence and ensure timely support, care and treatment of employees. In total, 1 324 employees, making up about 90% of the total staff, were tested for HIV in the four companies during wellness testing days. In order to gain an understanding of employees’ experiences of the lotteries as part of the HIV counselling and testing drive, quantitative data were collected among a total of 414 employees, and 17 interviews were conducted in the four companies. In this article, we investigate the issue of whether the lotteries unduly influenced the employees’ participation in workplace HIV testing, and an approach to resolving an identified ethical dilemma is presented. The ethical question as to whether lottery incentives contribute to undue coercion was explored using both a utilitarian and a deontological approach. The analysis concluded that the use of lotteries to encourage HIV testing in the workplaces of the automotive industry in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality can be deemed morally acceptable.

Toward a bioethical framework for antibiotic use, antimicrobial resistance and for empirically designing ethically robust strategies to protect human health: a research protocol.

IntroductionAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a challenging global and public health issue, raising bioethical challenges, considerations and strategies.ObjectivesThis research protocol presents a conceptual model leading to formulating an empirically based bioethics framework for antibiotic use, AMR and designing ethically robust strategies to protect human health.MethodsMixed methods research will be used and operationalized into five substudies. The bioethical framework will encompass and integrate two theoretical models: global bioethics and ethical decision-making.ResultsBeing a study protocol, this article reports on planned and ongoing research.ConclusionsBased on data collection, future findings and using a comprehensive, integrative, evidence-based approach, a step-by-step bioethical framework will be developed for (i) responsible use of antibiotics in healthcare and (ii) design of strategies to decrease AMR. This will entail the analysis and interpretation of approaches from several bioethical theories, including deontological and consequentialist approaches, and the implications of uncertainty to these approaches.

Bioethics of Clinical Applications of Stem Cells.

The clinical applications of stem cells pose a multitude of problems, including safety, efficacy, information and consent, the right to unproven treatments, the “right to try”, costs, access, sustainability, scientific scrupulousness, patents and regulatory aspects, to name but a few. This article does not address individual issues, but rather introduces and discusses some of the possible approaches to solving the problems. The first part compares the consequentialist and deontological approaches, offering an overview of “top–down” and “bottom–up” models and proposing the principles of personalism as applied in clinical settings. The second part of the article suggests practical frameworks for organising the ethical issues, focusing in particular on the medical indications, patient preferences, quality of life, and contextual features.

The Philosopher and the Developer: Pluralist Moral Theory and the Law of Condominium

This paper analyzes the evolving law of condominium from the perspective of the moral philosophy of property, focusing in particular on neo-Aristotelian value or pluralist ethics. By combining aspects of traditional property law, corporate law, and municipal politics, condominium provides a flexible tool for ownership and private land use planning. However, condominium also poses novel and unique challenges to both legal doctrine and the very meaning of private property. After describing and comparing the pluralist approach to moral philosophy of property and the approach of its main rivals – deontology and utilitarianism – the paper describes how condominium is understood by each approach and analyzes in detail current legislation and court decisions regarding condominium in light of these approaches. The paper concludes that courts and legislatures have been alternating between deontological approaches and pluralist approaches to condominium, with a general trend in recent developments away from the deontological approaches and towards pluralist approaches. The thesis tentatively suggests that on the whole, pluralist approaches lead to more just and equitable results in condominium, and suggests further avenues for study.

Multinational Tax Avoidance: Virtue Ethics and the Role of Accountants

The techniques that some large multinational corporations use to reduce their tax liability have come under increasing public scrutiny in recent years, alongside governmental investigations and international commitments aimed at curbing opportunities for tax avoidance. Although discussion of tax avoidance activities, and their regulatory responses, is often conducted with reference to moral concepts (such as ‘fairness’), philosophical analysis of the ethics of multinational tax avoidance remains limited. In particular, the virtue ethics tradition that emphasises the agent (and his/her character) and the performance of specific roles has not been considered in detail. This paper examines how the contemporary virtue ethics of Alasdair MacIntyre can be applied to the issue of multinational tax avoidance, and considers the role that accountants play in these activities. It argues, firstly, that MacIntyre’s approach provides a more useful philosophical analysis of the issue (when compared to utilitarian and deontological approaches for example) and, secondly, that the main parties involved (MNC accountants and regulators) are likely to agree with the main tenets of this approach. The paper also contributes by reconceptualising, using MacIntyre’s scheme, the issue of tax avoidance in relation to Donald Cressey’s ‘fraud triangle’.

Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Obligation to Exercise Discretion

This presentation argues that a key problem posed by AWS is that they constitute a use of administrative powers against individuals without the exercise of proper discretion. AWS are based on pre-programmed algorithms, and therefore – as long as they are incapable of human like metacognition – when they are deployed administrative discretion is bound. Operating on the basis of bound discretion is per se arbitrary and contradicts basic notions of administrative law, notions that, as argued here, complement modern standards of international humanitarian and human rights law. This realization explains better some of the concerns relating to AWS, which are usually expressed in circular arguments and counter-arguments between consequentialist and deontological approaches.

Should the Lion Eat Straw Like the Ox? Animal Ethics and the Predation Problem

Stephen Clark’s article The Rights of Wild Things from 1979 was the starting point for the consideration in the animal ethics literature of the so-called ‘predation problem’. Clark examines the response of David George Ritchie to Henry Stephens Salt, the first writer who has argued explicitly in favor of animal rights. Ritchie attempts to demonstrate—via reductio ad absurdum—that animals cannot have rights, because granting them rights would oblige us to protect prey animals against predators that wrongly violate their rights. This article navigates the reader through the debate sparked off by Clarke’s article, with as final destination what I consider to be the best way to deal with the predation problem. I will successively discuss arguments against the predation reductio from Singer’s utilitarian approach, Regan’s deontological approach, Nussbaum’s capability approach, and Donadson and Kymlicka’s political theory of animal rights.

Justification as faultlessness

According to deontological approaches to justification, we can analyze justification in deontic terms. In this paper, I try to advance the discussion of deontological approaches by applying recent insights in the semantics of deontic modals. Specifically, I use the distinction between weak necessity modals (should, ought to) and strong necessity modals (must, have to) to make progress on a question that has received surprisingly little discussion in the literature, namely: ‘What’s the best version of a deontological approach?’ The two most obvious hypotheses are the Permissive View, according to which justified expresses permission, and the Obligatory View, according to which justified expresses some species of obligation. I raise difficulties for both of these hypotheses. In light of these difficulties, I propose a new position, according to which justified expresses a property I call faultlessness, defined as the dual of weak necessity modals. According to this view, an agent is justified in $$\phi$$ -ing iff it’s not the case that she should [/ought] not $$\phi$$ . I argue that this ‘Faultlessness View’ gives us precisely what’s needed to avoid the problems facing the Permissive and Obligatory Views.

Sport coaches’ experiences of athlete injury: the development and regulation of guilt

This study sought to examine coaches’ experiences of guilt in the specific context of athlete injury. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were utilised to generate data. Our analysis suggested that not only was guilt a commonly felt emotion, but was also one that that the participants attempted to regulate. The coaches’ stories were primarily, although not exclusively, interrogated using the psychological theorising concerning trauma-related guilt. We conclude the paper by making connections to, and from, the coaches’ experiences of guilt with existing critiques of the prevailing deontological approach used to define what it means to be a ‘good’ sport coach. Here, we suggest that dominant perspectives in coach education may be instrumental in entrenching coaches’ experience of guilt.

Grabbing or investment? On judging large-scale land acquisitions

Although analyses of large-scale land acquisitions (LSLA) often contain an explicit or implicit normative judgment about such projects, they rarely deduce such judgment from a nuanced balancing of pros and cons. This paper uses assessments about a well-researched LSLA in Sierra Leone to show that a utilitarian approach tends to lead to the conclusion that positive effects prevail, whereas deontological approaches lead to an emphasis on negative aspects. LSLA are probably the most radical land-use change in the history of humankind. This process of radical transformation poses a challenge for balanced evaluations. Thus, we line out a framework that focuses on the options of local residents but sets boundaries of acceptability through the core contents of human rights. In addition, systemic implications of a project need to be regarded.

The limits of deontology in dental ethics education

Most current dental ethics curricula use a deontological approach to biomedical and dental ethics that emphasizes adherence to duties and principles as properties that determine whether an act is ethical. But the actual ethical orientation of students is typically unknown. The purpose of the current study was to determine the ethical orientation of dental students in resolving clinical ethical dilemmas. First-year students from one school were invited to participate in an electronic survey that included eight vignettes featuring ethical conflicts common to the health care setting. The Multidimensional Ethics Scale was used to evaluate the students’ ethical judgments of these conflicts. Students rated each vignette along 13 ethically relevant items using a 7-point scale. Nine of the thirteen items were analyzed because they represent the dominant ethical theories, including deontology. One hundred sixteen dental students successfully completed the survey. Of the analyzed items, those associated with deontology had comparatively weak associations with whether students judged the action to be ethical and whether students judged themselves likely to perform the action. Whether an action was judged to be caring had the strongest association with whether the action was judged to be ethical and whether students judged themselves likely to perform the action. These results suggest that adherence to duties or principles has weaker association with students’ ethical judgments and behavior compared to caring, which was found to be more influential in their ethical judgments and behavior. Current dental school curricula with a primary focus on deontology may not adequately prepare students to maintain ethical attitudes and behavior in practice.

An Examination of Ethical Influences on the Work of Tax Practitioners

As a contribution to the continuing debate about tax practitioner ethics, this paper explores the main streams of Western ethical thought that are relevant to tax practitioners’ work, most typically deontology and consequentialism (although virtue ethics and distributive justice are also considered). It then goes on to consider the impact of such ethical influences on the professional ethical codes of conduct that govern tax practitioners’ work (with specific reference to the UK and Ireland), and attempts to unravel the complex work and ethical environment of the practice of tax in terms of tax compliance and tax avoidance. The paper then examines the prior studies on tax practitioners and ethics and the type of dilemmas that practitioners face in the context of their work. The paper proceeds to examine empirically the extent to which tax practitioners take a consequentialist versus a deontological approach in their reasoning about moral dilemmas. This is carried out by an innovative use of the Defining Issues Test.

When the moral tail wags the entrepreneurial dog: the historic case of Trumpet Records

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the congruencies and incongruences between the moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities of Lillian McMurry to provide insights for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Ms McMurry was the entrepreneurial force behind the founding of Trumpet Records, a unique, Mississippi Delta Blues record label in the 1950s. Design/methodology/approach – The examination of this historical case study is grounded in the theoretical examination of the tensions between Lillian McMurry’s felt moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities. Using an analytical archival historical method, a narrative explanation of how these tensions influenced the success and, ultimately, the failure of Trumpet Records are developed. Findings – The accounting records highlighted a number of issues hampering the commercial profitability of Trumpet Records. Moreover, the archival and documentary sources examined also proved revealing as to conflicts between Ms McMurry’s personal character and mercantile determination as an entrepreneur. Research limitations/implications – The approach of using analytically structured historical narrative as a research strategy is but one method of explaining the tensions between the moral and entrepreneurial accountabilities of Lillian McMurry. Practical implications – The proponents of virtue ethics suggest that this Aristotelian personal character perspective is more fundamental than traditional, act-oriented consequentialist teleological and deontological ethical decision-making approaches. A perspective of moral accountability exceeding the norm of the obstructionist stance is required to maintain a sound balance between entrepreneurial accountability and moral accountability. Originality/value – This paper adopts a mercantile perspective, using the accounting and related business records of Trumpet Records, to examine the leadership characteristics of Lillian McMurry. Practical lessons learned for entrepreneurs facing the moral dilemma of competing accountabilities and advance questions to spur future research in this area are drawn.

Utilitarian and deontological ethics in medicine.

Medical ethics is a sensible branch of moral philosophy and deals with conflicts in obligations/duties and their potential outcome. Two strands of thought exist in ethics regarding decision-making: deontological and utilitarian. In deontological approach, outcomes/consequences may not just justify the means to achieve it while in utilitarian approach; outcomes determine the means and greatest benefit expected for the greatest number. In brief, deontology is patient-centered, whereas utilitarianism is society-centered. Although these approaches contradict each other, each of them has their own substantiating advantages and disadvantages in medical practice. Over years, a trend has been observed from deontological practice to utilitarian approach leading to frustration and discontentment. Health care system and practitioners need to balance both these ethical arms to bring congruity in medical practice.

The Manual of Musical Instrument Conservation by Stewart Pollens

INSTRUMENTS The Manual of Musical Instrument Conservation. By Stewart Pollens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. [ix, 448 p. ISBN 9781107077805 (hardcover), $150; ISBN 9781316309742 (e-book), $120.] Illustrations, tables, bibliography, index.Stewart Pollens is one of the leading authorities on the care of historical musical instruments, having served as musical instrument conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1976 to 2006. Over the course of those three decades, he helped to preserve and restore their collection of over five thousand objects, including some of the world's most famous keyboard and bowed string instruments. his most recent book, The Manual of Musical Instrument Conservation, Pollens has distilled the wisdom and experience derived from his museum work, drawing on a shop notebook in which he recorded his daily work on the collection.The book is organized in the form of a dictionary, with 118 alphabetically-arranged entries, from Acoustics to Woodworking. The entries vary in length from a mere few lines in the case of entries for Gold and gold-plated brass and or Epoxy removal, to veritable articles spanning a dozen or more pages, on such topics as Historical metrology, Organ restoration, and Stringed-keyboard restoration. This is therefore not a book one would necessarily read from beginning to end, but the author provides both a convenient table of contents that includes all of the entry titles, and a detailed index, which can be used for finding matters that are discussed in multiple entries. Moreover, each entry ends with a list of references for further reading on the topic.This book will be useful to many categories of readers, not only the small population of professional conservators of musical instruments. Any museum professional will find Pollens's work valuable for dealing with myriad situations with which they may be confronted, from restringing a harp to moving a piano or cleaning a trumpet. Instrument builders will also benefit from Pollens's observations, especially if they repair historical instruments or make reproductions of such instruments. Finally, musicians who read this book will come away with a better understanding of the issues that concern the preservation of the tools of their trade.The concept of this book is highly original. It does not aim to replace any of the existing texts on the conservation of specific instrument types, such as keyboards or violins. Nor does the book attempt to present a deontological approach to instrument conservation, especially when it comes to the thorny question of whether historical instruments should be restored to playing condition. On this issue, Pollens writes, In general, I neither advocate nor disapprove of the restoration of historic musical instruments; rather I believe that each instrument and proposed treatment must be considered on a case-by-case basis with consideration given to the requirements and needs of the collection or owner (p. 2). The only work that resembles Pollens 's book is The Care of Historic Musical Instruments, edited by Robert L. Barclay (Edinburgh, Ottawa: Museums and Galleries Commission, Canadian Institute, 1997), but the differences in approach and emphases between Pollens, a string and keyboard specialist, and Barclay, a brass specialist, make for stimulating comparisons.The topics covered in the book range from general themes (Acoustics and Authentication) and philosophical or deontological issues (Ethics and Conservation reports) to more specialized subjects pertaining to the materiality of conservation (Benzotriazole, Bleach, Brass and bronze alloys, and Glues, pastes and other adhesives). …

Before virtue: assessing contemporary virtue ethics

Classical virtue ethics, exemplified by Aristotle (d. 322 BC), asked: what can we know of human nature and the virtues by which it is perfected in order to live well? Dominant ethical theories today generally avoid the question of human nature, taking deontological (non-metaphysical) or utilitarian (maximizing perceived social benefit) approaches. Elizabeth Anscombe's 1958 article Modern Moral Philosophy, sparked a revival of virtue ethics. She critiqued contemporary ethical theories and exhorted her readers to recover central features of an Aristotelian approach. Jonathan Sanford finds that despite the common origins of contemporary virtue ethics in Anscombe, the literature varies widely not just in its scope but in its basic commitments. What exactly is contemporary virtue ethics? In Before Virtue , Sanford develops strategies for describing contemporary virtue ethics accurately. He then assesses contemporary virtue approaches by the Anscombean dual standard which inspired them: the degree to which they avoid the pitfalls of modern moral philosophy and the extent to which they exemplify a successful recovery of an Aristotelian approach to ethics. Sanford finds the results to be mixed. But an underlying and unifying theme emerges: an adequate virtue theory must incorporate at least preliminary answers to the questions of the nature of human beings, our ends, and the principles by means of which our ends are best pursued. It is only in light of recognizing the significance of those questions to moral philosophy that one can begin to appreciate the contribution of Aristotelian ethics. Ultimately, Anscombe's judgment about the need to eschew what she designates as modern moral philosophy is vindicated through a recovery of Aristotelian ethics that goes further in addressing those more basic questions than has most contemporary virtue ethics. The concluding chapters of this book contribute to that recovery.

How to make good choices? Ethical perspectives guiding social workers moral reasoning

Framing and distinguishing mainstream social work ethical perspectives could be useful for social work students and practitioners facing moral choices in daily practice. The article presents a summary and classification of a range of ethical theories and provides some insights into the relationship between ethical thinking and practice issues. It distinguishes between classical approaches and ‘situated’ positions. The former – which includes teleological, deontological, and rights-based approaches – refer to universal and general principles. ‘Situated’ ethics are linked to specific and unique situations of professional practice. Finally, the article suggests some useful questions derived from each approach in order to help students to reflect on complex ethical choices occurring in daily practice.

Social workers and moral choices. Ethical questions about Giovanna’s case

Which questions could be useful for social workers facing moral choices in daily practice? The article presents a concrete case and some questions rooted in various ethical perspectives in social work. The classical approaches, which include teleological, deontological and rights-based approaches, are referred to as universal and general principles. On the other hand, ‘situated’ positions are linked to specific and unique situations in professional practice, such as ethics of care, narrative approaches and face-to-face ethics. Linking different points of view to a specific situation can help social workers understand its ethical features and decide how to act.