Philosophy 3730F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Deontological Ethics, Cultural Relativism, Nuance Communications

• School: Western University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: Philosophy 3730F/G
• Professor: C. Weijer

Document Summary

Assignment due at the beginning of class (hard copy and e-copy) november 8. Reminder of central problem in research ethics: what justifies exposing people to risks primarily for the benefit of others: tripartite answer. I(cid:374) order to gi(cid:448)e (cid:272)hildre(cid:374) (cid:858)i(cid:374)for(cid:373)ed (cid:272)o(cid:374)se(cid:374)t(cid:859) (cid:449)e (cid:449)ould ha(cid:448)e to (cid:449)ait u(cid:374)til the(cid:455) are of a (cid:373)ature age to gi(cid:448)e (cid:272)o(cid:374)se(cid:374)t (cid:271)ut the(cid:374) (cid:449)e (cid:449)ould(cid:374)(cid:859)t k(cid:374)o(cid:449) a(cid:374)(cid:455)thi(cid:374)g a(cid:271)out (cid:272)hildhood. Consequentialist answer: weigh the consequences of the action, social value (health benefits) compared to risks to participants. If the social value is larger, then we need to come to terms with the fact that we therefore need to expose children to risks: line drawing becomes a problem. Rights-based answer: what justifies exposing individuals to risks is when they autonomously adopt the ends as their own, but many children are incapable of providing consent, exposing children to risk in research is therefore impermissible. Think about benefits to children: presumed consent.