Ethics 8

 

Quotation:

 

 

 

“What do grown children owe their parents? I will contend that the answer is ‘nothing’…The duties of grown children are those of friends and result from love between them and their parents…”  –Jane English

 

 

 

1. Your parents gave you up for adoption at a young age, because at the time they had you they were young and had little in the way of financial resources. They thought that your being adopted by well-educated parents with financial security would be in your best interests. Thirty years have passed and by some stroke of fortune your biological parents found you, and one of them needs a kidney and you are the best match. Would you give up a kidney for your biological parent in need? Why or why not?

 

 

 

2. How does English’s contention (see quotation above) compare and contrast with Yutang’s contention that “a natural man loves his children, but a cultured man loves his parents”?

 

 

 

2.1. Apply one of the ethical perspectives from Kant, Mill and Aristotle to the CULTURAL attitudes about a child’s relationship with his or her parents. (Cf.5)

 

 

 

2.2. How would you use your philosophical/ethical reasoning skills to determine what your MORAL responsibility is, if any, to your biological parents? Would it be different if it were someone not related to you that were in need? How and why?

3. After completing all questions, analyze a classmate’s post and examine if his or her answer is grounded on a philosophical worldview which is grounded in CULTURE.  Do culture and a resultant philosophical worldview which influence ethical principles ultimately influence his or her ethical decision?