How Bioethical How Bioethical Standpoints Influence Standpoints Influence Biomedical DecisionsBiomedical Decisions

EXAMPLES

Because of “god” (pure actuality), all of reality is goal-directed

People are goal-directed to tell the truth (just look at the virtuous person), so one

ought to tell the truth

I tell the truth in this situationGROUNDED IN

GROUNDED IN

Aristotle’s

Virtue Ethics

Another Way to Visualize This (Top-Down)…

God, who is Love, graciously creates and sustains reality

One ought to love one’s neighbor as one loves oneself

I give to charity

GROUNDED IN

GROUNDED IN

Aquinas’

Christian Ethics

Aquinas’ General Characterization of

Natural Morality

Aquinas’ General Characterization of

Natural Morality

Also the view of John Locke and the US Founding Fathers

I’m an existential nihilist, life is mine, there is nothing else…

One ought to end the pain, if it becomes unbearable

I knowingly and willingly commit suicide

GROUNDED IN

GROUNDED IN

Existential

Nihilism

I’m a religious terrorist, there is always collateral damage in a war, my reward will

be great in heaven…

One ought to die, if necessary, to further the cause, ideology…

I knowingly and willingly commit suicide

GROUNDED IN

GROUNDED IN

Religious

Terrorism

I’m a neuroscientist, mind/soul with moral claims comes to be only with a complex

nervous system…

If the technology is there, one should use it for research, the good

I harvest human embryonic stem cells for research

GROUNDED IN

GROUNDED IN

Neuroscience

I’m a pantheistic Hindu, all of reality is one, sacred, and imbued with autonomy

and respect…

One ought never to harm a living being, especially one that is

sentient

I would never eat a cow or use it in experiments

GROUNDED IN

GROUNDED IN

Pantheistic

Hinduism

I’m a standard monotheist, God has created us in His Image (we’re most

important); we are to “subdue” animals…

One ought to use animals for human benefits (if we must…)

I would eat a cow and use it in experimentsGROUNDED IN

GROUNDED IN

Standard

Monotheism

I’m a Christian Scientist, all that really exists are souls and God; bodies and other

matter are mere illusions…

One ought to trust in God’s love and not “thwart” God’s intervention

No one will operate on my child’s throat cancer

GROUNDED IN

GROUNDED IN

Christian

Science

Another Way to Visualize This (Top-Down)…

GROUNDED IN

GROUNDED IN

TERRI SCHIAVO CASE:CATHOLIC POSITION

TERRI SCHIAVO CASE:(A POSSIBLE)

UTILITARIAN POSITION

TERRI SCHIAVO CASE:(ANOTHER POSSIBLE) UTILITARIAN POSITION

TERRI SCHIAVO CASE:(A POSSIBLE)

DEONTOLOGICAL POSITION

TERRI SCHIAVO CASE:(ANOTHER POSSIBLE)

DEONTOLOGICAL POSITION

TERRI SCHIAVO CASE:(A POSSIBLE)

VIRTUE ETHICS POSITION

TERRI SCHIAVO CASE:CHRISTIAN VIRTUE ETHICS

POSITION

Thank YouThank You

Robert Arp, Ph.D.Ontology Research Group (ORG)

www.org.buffalo.eduNational Center for Biomedical Ontology (NCBO)

www.bioontology.org

This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health through the NIH Roadmap for Biomedical Research, Grant 1 U 54 HG004028.Information on the National Centers for Biomedical Computing can be found at: http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/bioinformatics.