To What Extent Is Morality Determined by Intent? a Look at the Intention of Organ Trade from Different Philosophical View Points
STIMULUS
China ‘Kidney for iPad’ trial begins in Hunan (BBC News, 2012)
Summary: Five people have gone on trial in China for illegal organ trading and intentional injury after a teenager sold his kidney to buy an iPad and iPhone. The defendants include the surgeon who removed the 17-year-old’s kidney who could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. The teenager, who nearly died after suffering renal failure after the transplant, was said to be too sick to attend the hearing and is still said to be in poor health. One of the accused defendants, He Wei, was said to have recruited the teenager in an online chat room last April in order to pay for his gambling debts. The group is said to have received around $35,000 for the transplant while the teenager was reportedly given approximately $3000 for his kidney. The trial continues with defendant facing up to 10 years prison if found guilty.
To what extent is morality determined by intent?
Henry Sidgwick stated that a “method of ethics” is “any rational procedure by which we determine what individual beings “ought” – or what it is “right” for them – to do”. (Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics, p.1) The act of organ trafficking has been deemed something individuals ought not be doing, this is assumed to be because the act does not conform to the norm of the society. Organ trade involves the trading of inner organs of a human for transplantation; the question still remains whether it is the consequences of organ trafficking that result in it being the bioethical dilemma or is the morality of the issue influenced by the intent behind the act. The complexities can be explored through the application of the three normative ethic theories: Deontology, Virtue Ethics and Consequentialism. Deontological ethics judges the morality of an action based on the action’s adherence to the rules and that the motive is the deciding factor of right or wrong. In contrast, consequentialists hold the rightness or wrongness of an act
China ‘Kidney for iPad’ trial begins in Hunan (BBC News, 2012)
Summary: Five people have gone on trial in China for illegal organ trading and intentional injury after a teenager sold his kidney to buy an iPad and iPhone. The defendants include the surgeon who removed the 17-year-old’s kidney who could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. The teenager, who nearly died after suffering renal failure after the transplant, was said to be too sick to attend the hearing and is still said to be in poor health. One of the accused defendants, He Wei, was said to have recruited the teenager in an online chat room last April in order to pay for his gambling debts. The group is said to have received around $35,000 for the transplant while the teenager was reportedly given approximately $3000 for his kidney. The trial continues with defendant facing up to 10 years prison if found guilty.
To what extent is morality determined by intent?
Henry Sidgwick stated that a “method of ethics” is “any rational procedure by which we determine what individual beings “ought” – or what it is “right” for them – to do”. (Sidgwick, The Methods of Ethics, p.1) The act of organ trafficking has been deemed something individuals ought not be doing, this is assumed to be because the act does not conform to the norm of the society. Organ trade involves the trading of inner organs of a human for transplantation; the question still remains whether it is the consequences of organ trafficking that result in it being the bioethical dilemma or is the morality of the issue influenced by the intent behind the act. The complexities can be explored through the application of the three normative ethic theories: Deontology, Virtue Ethics and Consequentialism. Deontological ethics judges the morality of an action based on the action’s adherence to the rules and that the motive is the deciding factor of right or wrong. In contrast, consequentialists hold the rightness or wrongness of an act