Suggestions for discussion:
- Lay out options, i.e., possible actions one might take in the
situation.
- What should be done--and why?
- Give moral arguments in favor of each option. (Consider
Kantian ethics, utilitarianism, and intuitive morality.)
- Defend each option from the moral point of view as the thing one
ethically should do.
- What variations in the situation would lead to different answers?
Why?
- Reply to (critique and improve upon) suggestions that others have
already posted.
- See the Worksheet
for
Ethical Decision Making for further suggestions for ethical analysis
of cases.
Be sure to defend your conclusions.
Disclaimer: I (Richard Lee) am not a chemist,
so these examples may not be realistic. In your discussion you may fill
out and even modify these examples, providing details as needed, in such a
way as to emphasize (not eliminate) the ethical worries that each is
spotlighting.
"These materials are not endorsed, approved, sponsored, or
provided by or on behalf of the University of Arkansas,
Fayetteville."
Richard Lee,
rlee@comp.uark.edu,
last modified: 20 May 2001