Free Essay

Ethics

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Submitted By dventura1
Words 1754
Pages 8
Doug Ventura
April 22, 2012 PHL 215
Mia Rowland
Paper One
A recent proposal to eliminate the ban of selling kidneys so that college students can pay for college has sparked much debate on the ethics of human rights and morality. The question is whether or not selling body parts for money is moral. I will be discussing how Utilitarianism, Kant’s Theory, and Negative Natural Rights theory determine morality and whether each theory deems the proposal as a moral act or not.
The first theory we can use in deciding if selling kidneys for tuition is ethical is Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism determines morality by saying an act is moral if it creates the greatest overall utility. This means it will require that we sacrifice our own pleasure and happiness for the greater good. The first step in determining the moral worth of the act is defining the utility. In this situation, financially poor student are selling their kidney to pay the tuition costs to go to school. The groups that are being affected are college students who cannot afford tuition and people who are in desperate need of a kidney. In the UK, “three people die every day in the UK while awaiting kidneys”. There is a clearly a high demand of kidneys. Since utilitarianism looks to produce the greatest overall utility, we need to measure the consequences to determine whether the positive consequences outweigh the negative consequences. The positive consequences are that poor students receive money for their kidneys so they can pay for college, and people who are in need of a kidney receive them and do not die. The negative consequences are that the student who donates a kidney will only have one instead of two, causing possible future consequences if the one kidney stops working. Another negative consequence is that someone is going to have to pay for that kidney instead of getting it donated for free. Sue Rabbitt Roff asks, "Why can't we allow them to do a very kind and generous thing but also meet their own needs?” She is saying that everyone wins from the selling of the kidneys. Since humans can live with just one kidney for just as long as a person with two, I believe the positive consequences outweigh the negative consequences making this a moral act under utilitarianism.
Utilitarianism also has to look at other courses of action. The other course of action is if students do not sell their kidney. The positive consequences are that students have two kidneys instead of one. The negative consequences are that students will not be able to afford the cost of college and people who are in need of a kidney do not receive them and die. A utilitarian would say the first course of action of selling a kidney is better than not selling a kidney because it has the greatest overall utility. The second theory we can use in deciding if selling kidneys for tuition is ethical is Kant’s theory. Kant claims that an act has moral worth if it is done for the sake of duty. Acting for the sake of duty means that we should perform an act because it is the right thing to do. Kant’s theory rejects the idea of self-interest, emotion, and utility because they lead to inconsistent ways of determining the morality of an act, which affects our autonomy. Kant’s theory does not consider consequences when performing a moral act and an act is only moral if it provides unconditional good will. Selling a kidney to pay for college takes in self-interest. The student is selling a part of its body because the student wants to get a higher education. It also takes in utility because the student is allowed to go to college and people who are in need of a kidney get them. Kant would claim that this act is immoral since self interest and utility are being used which affect our autonomy. The next step in Kant’s theory when determining morality of an act is if it can be willed a universal law. Are we willing to accept the rule that underlies our act as a moral rule which could apply as a universal law? The test is whether people could consistently will that everyone adopt this rule as a guide to their actions. If we do accept it as a universal rule then the act is moral and if we do not accept the rule as universal it is immoral. In this situation, the test is whether we can accept the fact that everyone has to sell their kidney to go to school. Some people might only have one functioning kidney and if they had to sell their kidney in order to go to school they could die. This means that not everyone can consistently adopt this rule as a guide to their actions making selling a kidney in order to go to school an immoral act under Kant’s theory. The final condition of Kant’s theory when determining the morality of an act is to act in such a way that you always treat humanity, either yourself of any other person, never as a means, but always as an end. Dr. Calum MacKellaris is quoted on saying “to place a financial value on human beings or parts of human beings undermines the inherent dignity of the human person and the innate as well as immeasurable worth of all individuals". When we treat someone or ourselves as a means, we fail to recognize that person’s true value and are just using them for some sort of benefit instead of realizing their true value as human beings. When we treat someone as an end, we treat that person with value, dignity, and respect, regardless of any benefit we may receive from them. When students sell their body to pay for tuition, they are treating their body as a means rather than an end because they are using their body parts to gain benefits, which is money so they can pay for college. The students are not respecting their body with dignity and value, which goes against Kant’s theory of a moral act. We can also use the Negative Natural Rights Theory to determine if selling kidneys to go to college is moral. This theory determines morality by stating everyone has certain negative rights that should not be interfered with which are life, liberty, property and equality. An act that does not interfere with these negative rights is considered a moral act. Natural rights theory generally claims that these rights are absolute. These rights override all other types of moral considerations and moral factors. A negative natural rights philosopher would say that it is moral for students to sell their kidneys in order to go to college because they do not interfere with the negative rights. A student has the right of liberty to pursue his goals of going to college and getting a higher education. The student is not interfering with anybody else’s natural rights by doing this. In addition, everyone should have a right to what legitimately belongs to them. In this scenario, the student’s kidney is the property, and it legitimately belongs to him. If a student wants to sell his body part so he can get money to pursue his goals to go to college, he should be able to because it is his body part and he should be able control the properties of his own body. Since there is no violation against any negative natural rights, this theory would make selling kidneys to pay for college a moral act. Having a ban on selling of kidneys actually goes against the negative natural rights theory. The theory that I believe best fits this scenario in determining the morality of selling kidneys to pay for education is the Negative Natural Rights Theory. I would say that I am a liberal person and I believe there should be as little government as possible. I believe everyone should be able to do what ever they want with their own body as long as it does not interfere with other people’s natural rights. If I wanted to sell my kidney to pay for college instead of being in financial debt for a long time, I believe I should be able to sell my kidney. If I did not want to sell my kidney to pay for college, I would not have to either. I believe it would be immoral if someone told me what I can and cannot do with my own body because that would interfere with my negative natural rights. I believe utilitarianism is inadequate for determining the morality of selling kidneys because the rights and interests of certain groups are sacrificed. In this case, only the financial poor students would have to donate their kidney because they are the ones that cannot afford school while the wealthy students would not have to. Robin Parker is quoted on saying “Young people, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds, are already being asked to take on huge debt to afford an education…They shouldn't be expected to remove a body part as well”. I believe this abuses the minority of the poor students and is not fair that poor students making utilitarianism inadequate when determining morality for selling body parts for tuition. I also believe Kant’s theory is inadequate when determine morality because Kant’s theory says you should not look at consequences when determining morality. I believe considering the consequences of our acts are an important part of making moral decisions. Kant’s theory does not give consequences a role when determining morality. I also believe emotion plays a role in making a moral decision and not just reason. In some cases emotion tells us to act when reason tells us not to. For example if someone was dying and need of a kidney, under Kant’s theory it is not our responsibility to help them even if we could save their lives with little or no harm to ourselves. Emotions can provide us with a moral sense that is not possible through reason alone. Since Kant’s theory does not look at the consequences or consider emotion, I believe it is an inadequate way for determining whether selling body parts for money is moral.

Work Cited

Freeman, David W. "Cash-for-kidneys Tuition Plan Stirs Ethics Debate. CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 05 Aug. 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. <http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20088302-10391704.html>.

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