Ethical Theories as Methods of Ethics

This chapter presents a new argument for thinking of traditional ethical theories not as criteria of rightness and wrongness, but rather as methods that can be used in first-order moral inquiry. It begins from outlining how ethical theories such as consequentialism and contractualism are flexible frameworks in which different versions of these theories can be formulated to correspond to different first-order ethical views. This chapter then argues that, as a result, the traditional ethical theories cannot be evaluated in terms of their truth or correctness. Instead, it suggests that these theories should be understood as providing different kinds of ways of thinking about difficult moral problems. Finally, the chapter recommends a certain kind of an attitude of pragmatic pluralism as something that should guide our theory choice in normative ethics—it may well be that different moral problems are better approached through different ethical theories.

How to Train and Assess the Quality of Facilitators for Moral Case Deliberation? Experiences with and Evaluation of Self-Reflection and Observation Forms for Facilitators of Moral Case Deliberation

"In Europe, Moral Case Deliberation (MCD) has been well-known and established as a form of Clinical Ethics Support (CES) and implemented in many international (health care) institutions. Since 2007 Amsterdam UMC organizes training for professionals to become a facilitator of MCD. To support and asses the development of those future facilitators MCD, an instrument has been developed which can be used by both trainees and trainers. The instrument consists of a self-reflection form and an observation form. Both forms are almost identical and contain a part of open questions reflecting upon the personal learning goals of the trainee and a part of 56 closed questions. The part of closed questions contains concrete descriptions of preferred skills and attitude of the MCD facilitator trainee, related to MCD in general and the specific steps of the Dilemma method and the Socratic Dialogue in particular. Special attention is being paid to concrete actions for fostering a dialogue and deepening the moral inquiry. The instrument can also be used by trained and more experienced facilitators of MCD to reflect upon their acquired skills and attitude, and indirectly on the quality of CES they provide. In this presentation we will present the instrument and share our experiences in using the two forms in order to train and assess (the quality of) facilitators of MCD. Furthermore, we will present preliminary results of the analysis of more than 1200 forms collected in the past decade from trainings on national and international level. "

The Delicate Art of Putting Intractable Disputes into Question

The conflicting evaluations given to moral issues beg for an explanation. Can such an explanation be found in the invisible presence of competing rationalities that result in intractable disputes? This essay seeks to explore how the work of Alasdair MacIntyre can be useful in making visible the way competing traditions of moral inquiry hamper our attempts to make tractable currently intractable disputes in the field of moral theology. A comparison between the approach of MacIntyre and Charles E. Curran aims at developing a methodology for evaluating such competing modes of inquiry.

Stress and Resilience among Medical Students during Pandemic

Medical students who are future physicians are faced with a lot of uncertainties during this pandemic. It includes both academic as well as clinical difficulties. Previous literature has revealed that the stress among medical students is higher when compared to their peers. The stress has even been more during the pandemic as their role during the pandemic is not clear. The purpose of medical training is to produce good doctors but not at the cost of the integrity of the individuals.’Moral inquiry’ is a term used to represent the ethical dilemma faced by doctors during life-death situations. Helplessness faced by students during emergencies leads to moral inqury which in turn leads to more distress. Most of the Medical universities have responded to the pandemic rapidly, by switching to online mode in teaching. This unpatrolled response also has to lead to more stress among medical students. Resilience, by definition, is the capacity to bounce back productively during a stressful situation. Resilience can be viewed as a personality trait or as a fluid process that nurtures according to the situation and the individuals’ reservoir. In this article, we have tried to emphasise the importance of Resilience.

Moral Psychopharmacology Needs Moral Inquiry: The Case of Psychedelics

The revival of psychedelic research coincided and more recently conjoined with psychopharmacological research on how drugs affect moral judgments and behaviors. This article makes the case for a moral psychopharmacology of psychedelics that examines whether psychedelics serve as non-specific amplifiers that enable subjects to (re-)connect with their values, or whether they promote specific moral-political orientations such as liberal and anti-authoritarian views, as recent psychopharmacological studies suggest. This question gains urgency from the fact that the return of psychedelics from counterculture and underground laboratories to mainstream science and society has been accompanied by a diversification of their users and uses. We propose bringing the pharmacological and neuroscientific literature into a conversation with historical and anthropological scholarship documenting the full spectrum of moral and political views associated with the uses of psychedelics. This paper sheds new light on the cultural plasticity of drug action and has implications for the design of psychedelic pharmacopsychotherapies. It also raises the question of whether other classes of psychoactive drugs have an equally rich moral and political life.