Chapter 9 – Ethics: Walking the Talk Chapter 10 – Christianity as a Quest for Truth

1. June 14, 2015
Chapter 9 – Ethics: Walking the Talk
Chapter 10 – Christianity as a Quest for Truth

3.  Luther struggled with this question:
 What saves us? Our good works? Our is it our faith?
 Luther wrote a treatise in 1520 entitled The Freedom of a
Christian to address this question.
 In this treatise, Luther laid out two principles he felt
ethics must be based:
 A Christian is perfectly free lord of all subject to none and,
 A Christian is perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.

4.  Beneficence – an action that is done for the benefit of
others. Beneficent actions can be taken to prevent or
remove harm or to simply improve the situation of
others.
 Examples of beneficence: rescuing a drowning victim,
providing vaccinations for the general population,etc.

5.  Non-maleficence: This means to do no harm.
Physicians must refrain from providing ineffective
treatments or acting with malice toward patients.
 Example: Stopping a medication that is shown to be
harmful, refusing to provide a treatment that has not
been shown to be clinically effective.

6.  Autonomy – The personal rule of self that is free from
both controlling interferences from by others and from
personal limitations that prevent meaningful choice.
Autonomous individuals act intentionally, with
understanding, and without controlling influences.
 Example: Presenting all treatment options to a patient,
explaining risks in terms that a patient can
understand, ensuring that a patient understands the
risks and agrees to all procedures before going into the
surgery.

7.  Nazi intruders come looking for you and your Jewish
family. You are hiding in a secret place. Your infant
child starts to cry.
 Would you suffocate the child in order to save the rest of
your family?
 What are the goods in conflict?
 What moral principle warrants suffocating the child?
(beneficence or non-maleficence)
 What moral principle warrants not suffocating the
child? (beneficence or non-maleficence)

8.  A three year old child is in the second floor of a
burning house. To get out of the house she needs to
jump from the second story window. You and your
neighbor are there to catch her or at least break her
fall. She seems frozen and unable to move. You call
up to her “It’s okay; we’ll catch you.” This is a lie in the
sense that you are not sure you can catch her.
 From the perspective of the parent, what is the good that
is sought? What moral principle would justify the lie?
 What are the goods in conflict?
 What would you do?

9.  Your daughter, Mary, is the valedictorian for her high
school class. She has worked hard, is proud of her
achievement, and looks forward to delivering the
valedictorian speech at commencement. Mary’s
grandmother, your mother, has planned to attend the
graduation ceremony. On the morning of the graduation,
you go to your mother’s house and find that she died in her
sleep during the night. You call 911, and she is pronounced
dead. You call your minister and funeral home and
arrangements are made. Though upset, you are still able to
attend the graduation. As you arrive at the high school,
Mary comes looking for you. She finds you and asks,
“Where is grandma?”

10.  What are the goods in conflict?
 What moral principle warrants a lie saying that she
wasn’t feeling well?
 What would you do and why?

11.  Two parents with a son age 14 and a daughter age 12 are
at their dinner table. The son had a discussion at
school about the dangers of drug use and abuse. After
being asked what he did that day in school that day
and saying “We talked about drug abuse,” you ask him
what he thought about the discussion. He answers,
and then asks you “Did you ever smoke marijuana or
take any drugs”
 For this case, lets assume you smoked marijuana in
high school or college.

12.  What are the goods in conflict here?
 What moral principle would warrant lying about past
drug abuse?
 What moral principle warrants telling the truth?
 What would you do?