Thanks to The West Virginia Division of Personnel Organization and Human Resource Development Center for Quality Government for the image
1. One paragraph summary of the key idea of the section.
The key idea of this section was how morality plays roles in three situations: war, medicine, and business. We looked at Just War Theory according to the Catholic Church and applied those criteria to a situation at My Lai during the Vietnam War. For medical ethics, we watched a "Dateline" program about the University of Chicago Hospital and three separate choices doctors there had to make. We discussed what we saw as the right choice and briefly how similar situations could be avoided/taken care of in our lives. We looked at business ethics and examples of good, such as Jim Goodnight, and bad, such as Carl Icahn, businessmen and how their actions reflect moral decisions, and discussed what we thought of their decisions.
2. List and explain three of the most important ideas I want to remember from this section.
@ From the Just War Section I want to remember that the primary objective for going to war should be to preserve justice. It should not be out of hatrred, anger, or revenge, but for the soul purpose to protect justice and promote peace. This idea comes from "jus ad bellum".
@ From the medical ethics section I want to remember the "rules for what can and cannot be withheld from a patient if they are in acoma. Roughly, things like food and water can never be withheld, but breathing machines and other forms of artificial support are not necessary treatment and can be removed.
@ From the business ethics section, I want to remember the difference between legality and morality. just because something is legal does not mean that it is moral. Carl Icahn did nothing illegal, but he made choices that were immoral, helping only himself and hurting thousands of people and a whole city.
3. One image of that reminds me of the topic.
4. The most relevant question for me from this section.
Am I prepared to make ethical decisions in my life?
I feeel that I am somewhat prepared, but still have a ways to go. All ethcial decisions are tricky, there is not simple answer. The best way for me to become more prepared to make an ethical decision is to be informed; informed about both the situation that I find myself in at that time and informed about what is the suggested course of action from the Church. Only then can I make my decision.
5. What should you try to do to make you a better person, a more moral person, from this study of these three key issues?
This answer is sort of similar to the last question, which I posed to myself. The best answer for myself is to strive to be as ethical as possible in any situation that arises in life. If I go into business, this means putting the welfare of employees and consumers above my own if I have a position of power. When the U.S. is at war, I need to make a decision whether or not to support the war, based on if it is just or not. If I am in a position to make a medical decision about either my life or a loved one's, I need to do what is ethical, and that might not be easy. At this moment in my life, I guess that I am making small ethical decisions each day. Do I shop at stores that promote ideals or support organizations that I do not? Do I screw people over in deals or with money? These are the types of questions I should be asking myself now in order to be prepared to make ethical decisions in the future.