ETHC 445N Week 3 Discussion; Self and Others

Initial Post Instructions Rather than living in chaos, danger, and the hostility of our neighbors, we find ways to live together. It isn't easy, but can we avoid doing so? If everybody has self-interest in their own welfare and safety, then everybody also has self- interest in the welfare and safety of others. Self-interest involves community interest, and we must think about what we are willing to give up in order to get that safety and stability for ourselves, our families, our community, our nation, and even the world. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are just two examples of social contract moralists. Locke's philosophy helped Thomas Jefferson formulate the United States Declaration of Independence. We are interested in what it means to live together in an orderly way under a social contract. Initial Post Instructions For the initial post, address one of the following sets of questions: • What is a time when you or someone you know of experienced a conflict between duty to self and loyalty to the community? What would logical reasoning say should be done in that case? Why that? What would an Ethical Egoist say to do? Why would they say to do that? Note what you feel is the best course ofaction. • What is a time when you or someone you know experienced a clash between professional duties and familial duties? Reference a professional code such as that of the American Nurses Association or American Bar Association in explaining the clash. What moral values should have been used in that case? Why those values? What would social contract ethics have said to have done? Why would social contract ethics say that? Note what you feel is the best course of action. • Articulate and evaluate a time when you or someone you know saw personal obligations collide with national obligations. How did that tension involve differing positions on a moral debate? Did those positions rely on any key moral theories? If so, how so? If not, whynot? Note what you feel is the best course of action. Hello class My scenario will not be about me but instead about an acquaintance of mine who had faced an ethical dilemma very recently. He was assigned to work as community nurse for a residential area. As per his duty he is the l community nurse on Saturdays and Sundays there. In that area due to high number of COVID-19 cases CHN is always in demand and the local authorities is very much dependent on CHN to coordinate care and promote health. Last week on Friday night he received a call stating that his mother is in ICU following a heart attack and he was informed that her condition is critical. He knew that for the collective interests he should go to duty tomorrow, but he was in great pain while thinking about his mother, and, knowing she is critical he was afraid that whether he would be able see her alive ever again if he don't reach there immediately. Due to the pandemic situation in the country it was hard to find another nurse who can be given the charge for the upcoming two days. Logical reasoning should be that AB go to visit his mother by finding another nurse to substitute him for the duty. Although it is hard to find somebody a thorough search would be effective. If he cannot find a replacement, ask the local health authorities or his employer to find a replacement for two days. If none of this works, he can ask the nurses who would be coming on weekdays to come for the Saturday and Sunday and he can get back to the community after visiting his mother and do duty on weekdays. This is a solution as this saves both community needs and individual needs. It would be cruel to think and ask to someone to sacrifice his duties and obligations as a son for the sake of his professional duty. Besides that, as a son he is irreplaceable, but, if a CHN is not available there are hundreds of professionals who can effectively substitute the role. Ethical egoism is the normative ethical position that moral agents ought to act in their own self-interest. It holds that people ought to pursue their own self- interest, and no one has any obligation to promote anyone else's interests. So, it is obvious what position an ethical egoist will take here, she will definitely advise AB to go and meet his ailing mother who is in critical condition. This is simply because as we saw earlier in this paragraph, they believe and argue that'people ought to pursue their own self-interest, and no one has any obligation to promoteanyoneelse'sinterests,'here,'ownself-interest'equalstheAB'swishto see his mother and 'obligation to promote anyone else's interests' equals the interests of thecommunity. Finally, I feel the best course of action is to save both the interests of the community and AB's wish to visit his mother. As we saw in what the logical reasoning is saying about this scenario, this dilemma is better solved by protecting the interests of both parties. A replacement needs to be arranged for AB and he should go to visit his mother. AB must collaborate with his replacement via phone or using internet. And, he must come back to his duty as early as possible. References: Fowler, M. D. M. (2015). Guide to the code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements: development, interpretation, and application. American Nurses Association. Ruggiero, V. R. (2012). Thinking critically about ethical issues. McGraw-Hill. Weale, A. (2017). Associative Obligation and the Social Contract. Philosophia, 45(2), 463–476.