Gary K. Flowers
ETH/316
May 18, 2015
CHUCK THOMPSON
Blood Money
Moral reasoning and critical thinking play a major role in enhancing ethic. Facing severe consequences can make it hard to acknowledge moral values reflecting ethics. The Blood Money scenario involve exposing the Chinese military black-market selling human organs all over the world. Sources with the United States Media estimates the kidney selling business is worth tens of millions of dollars. Chinese military deny such a business exist while the Media is able to produce people with testimonies of involvement. The combination of moral reasoning and critical thinking helps with rationalizing decisions in complex situations.
Needing a kidney can make an individual thinking become fuzzy knowing your choice may lead to undesirable consequences. The Chinese military is behaving unethically by taking advantage of people in this situation. The scenario involves a woman giving testimony to buying a kidney through the Chinese military black market. After purchasing the kidney she acknowledges an obvious gray area debating the black and white alternatives. Average choices people make in everyday life involve a degree of ambiguity. Critically thinking the lady accepts the black-market as a lifesaving solution but later live with the guilt of questioning moral reasoning. Not only is critical thinking guiding many of our moral judgments and decisions, with reasoning only finding post-hoc rationalizations, but reasoning can sometimes play a negative role, by finding excuses for acting unethically (Mercier, 2011).
Professional medical doctors in this scandal are responsible for promoting better ethical standards. The military is morally responsible to uphold laws that protect prisoner rights. In addition, healthcare worker need to point out the dangers and health risk of organ trafficking. Victims have a responsibility to make sure their doctors are against the idea of using
References: Diflo, T. (2004). Use of organs from executed chinese prisoners. The Lancet, 364, 30-31. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17631-9 Mercier, H. (2011). What good is moral reasoning? Mind & Society, 10(2), 131-148. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11299-011-0085-6