Cultural Relativism And Moral Action Essay Paper
Cultural Relativism And Moral Action Essay Paper
This is an essay assignment for the class: Principles of Ethics:
“Propose a scenario where you or someone you know is confronted with a moral dilemma relating to cultural diversity and multiculturalism. Please see the attachment for guidelines.
Ps. the topic could be changed based on created scenario/situation Cultural Relativism And Moral Action Essay Paper
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Most religions do not believe in medical interventions since they ascertain that their Supreme Being is the ultimate healer (Beauchamp & Childress, 2019)Cultural Relativism And Moral Action Essay Paper. As a result, most tend to ignore any possibility of involving a healthcare professional to care for their health-related needs. In other cases, these individuals tend to believe that praying and fasting is the only way to heal. Hence, at one time, we received an emergency case in our healthcare organization after a young boy had been involved in an accident and needed an immediate blood transfusion. However, according to the rules of our healthcare organization, there is always a need to involve family members when carrying out various medical interventions on minors unless the situation cannot wait due to its severity. By good luck, someone had notified the parents about the condition, so they arrived on time before the healthcare would make the emergent move. On arrival, the mother of the boy believed that an evil spirit caused the accident; thus, there was a need to ensure that their religious leader would be present before any blood transfusion would take place. The mother’s notion was based on the fact that she could not trust any blood transfusion without their religious leader cleansing the blood to protect the son from other life misfortunes.
From a subjective moral relativist perspective, the nursing staff in our healthcare needed to listen to the mother’s beliefs and suggestions. That is because subjective relativism uses a philosophical standpoint that each individual has authority in their moral life, including their moral principle’s source (Kellenberger, 2018). For the boy’s mother, her arguments are inclined toward religious supremacy, with the religious leader being her moral principle source. On the other hand, the cultural relativist would also support the need to understand the mother’s concern based on her cultural context as we try to judge what is wrong and right. The reason for that assertion is that each culture has its measure of what is right or wrong, thus needing to understand one culture’s context without comparing it to other cultures to understand their stand comprehensively (Kellenberger, 2018)Cultural Relativism And Moral Action Essay Paper. From my point of view, cultural relativism is essential in the healthcare setting since it helps the medical team present its patient population with a sense of belonging.
Since the religious leader the mother wanted would take long, and the case was an emergency, the nurse leader contacted the hospital’s Chaplain, who was within the healthcare environment. What surprised everyone was that the mother was comfortable with the Chaplain representing her religious leader since the Chaplain was also a Christian. One important factor I learned about the situation concerns how the healthcare facility incorporates religion and cultural leadership in its services as part of its organizational culture. That is because, apart from Christian leaders, the organization has other religious leaders, including an Imam. Hence, the approach to integrating the healthcare Chaplain was essential. Moreover, it helped ensure that the boy received treatment at the right time, thus saving his life thus promoting beneficence and nonmaleficence ethical principles (Beauchamp & Childress, 2019)Cultural Relativism And Moral Action Essay Paper.
Also, considering that the boy’s mother’s views were not ignored, the situation gave her a sense of belonging within the healthcare organization by promoting the autonomy principle. The situation is based more on subjective moral truth than objective moral truth. That is because, once the healthcare facility received the boy, the blood transfusion was to take place immediately to stop risking his life further. However, the healthcare staff had to adhere to the patient’s mother’s moral stand to be in a position to help the patient fully. In conclusion, cultural diversity in the healthcare environment is essential to ensure that the patients receive the most appropriate care.
References
Beauchamp, T., & Childress, J. (2019). Principles of biomedical ethics: marking its fortieth anniversary. The American Journal of Bioethics, 19(11), 9-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2019.1665402
Kellenberger, J. (2018). Moral relativism. In The History of Evil From the Mid-Twentieth Century to Today (pp. 344-361). Routledge. Cultural Relativism And Moral Action Essay Paper
ETHC 445N Principles of Ethics
Assignment (this is an essay)
Propose a scenario where you or someone you know are confronted with a moral dilemma relating to cultural diversity and multiculturalism.
Cultural diversity refers to religious, sexual, racial, and other forms of social difference. A moral dilemma is a situation in which one must make a decision between two or more options such that the options involve seemingly ethical and/or unethical conduct. Address the following questions:
- What was the situation? What did the dilemma involve?
- What would a subjective moral relativist say is the right approach to the dilemma? Why would that kind of relativist say that?
- What would a cultural relativist say is the right approach to the dilemma? Why would that kind of relativist say that? Is that approach correct?
- What did you the person confronting the dilemma decide to do? What moral justification did they give? Is that approach morally, correct?
- Was there an objective moral truth (the objectively right thing to do) in this situation? Why or why not?
Remember, the dilemma should be detailed with description and dialogue. Regard the questions as requirements. This is an essay, so rather than simply providing a list of brief answers to questions, provide an in-depth reflection regarding a difficult ethical situation. Cite the textbook and incorporate outside sources, including citations. Cultural Relativism And Moral Action Essay Paper
Writing Requirements (APA format)
Length: 2 pages (not including title page or references page)
1-inch margins
Double spaced
12-point Times New Roman font
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Title page
References page (minimum of 2 scholarly sources)
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 1, 2
Rachels, S., & Rachels, J. (2019). The elements of moral philosophy (9th ed.). Mcgraw-Hill Education.
*Minimum of 2 scholarly sources in addition to the textbook Cultural Relativism And Moral Action Essay Paper