Tok Prsentation

The Reason and Emotion Behind Ethical Issues

Real-Life Situation Zoe Gilliard: Became pregnant when she was 17, and her boyfriend had just gone off to university. She was in the middle of her A-levels, having the child would harm her education and later on her social life. She aborted the child.

Knowledge Question To what extent is our judgment on ethical issues based on reason and/or emotion?

Reason •

Reason is something we use whenever we make a decision, and most of the time, our reasoning occurs instinctively, as we decide on the best path to take almost unconsciously, depending on previous experiences involving similar situations. It is possible to train ourselves to reason consciously, though, and the more one thinks about the decisions one is making, the more one is able to have active control over them. Some people have termed this intellectual enlightenment, the point where we are consciously aware of every choice we ever make. The extent to which this is achieved determines how rational we are.

Emotion Emotion is a psychological experience that everyone encounters and can be seen or expressed through certain behavior. It can affect our mood, reasoning, and behavior. A distinctive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.

Claim Through reason, Zoe Gilliard decided to abort the baby This can fall under reason because reason is something that we use whenever we make a decision, Zoe deciding to abort the baby in her mind would’ve been the best option as she was still young and keeping the baby could’ve jeopardized her education and social life. Overall, she wasn’t fit to be a mother. Therefore, it may be considered less ethical as the unborn fetus wasn’t fully developed yet.

Counter-Claim However, emotion can also affect the judgment on an ethical issue. For example, an unnamed 25 year old girl was raped by an Islamic Teacher. As a Muslim girl, the act of fornication before marriage is considered a serious offense in Islam. Since the girl was constantly raped over a 5 year period, she started to develop psychological issues and become traumatized. Through her psychological trauma the girl aborted the baby as she couldn’t emotionally handle seeing the child of her rapist everyday (even though it is considered a sin in Islam).

Counter-Claim It is evident that in the second RLS the girl decides to abort the baby after it has already become a fetus (8 weeks). In this situation, emotion is used to determine whether her actions would be considered ethical or unethical. Some may say that her situation is unethical because she murdered an innocent child as the fetus was already developed. Even though she couldn’t handle looking at her rapists baby, she shouldn’t have delayed her abortion and then take a life after it had developed.

Death Penalty (Claim) Scott Peterson was put on death row, after he murdered his wife Laci Peterson and the fetus of their first unborn child (which was washed ashore on San Francisco bay) in 2002. Laci was then found headless, armless, and legless washed ashore in the same area. Scott Peterson was sent to prison and later put on death row. Jude Alfred A. Dellucchi sentenced Scott Peterson to death by lethal injection and called the murder of Laci “cruel, uncaring, heartless and callous”. Peterson being put on death row can be supported through reason. Especially since he broke the law. Peterson was charged with 2 accounts of murder, 2 accounts of manslaughter. Meaning he broke 4 of the United States laws. Since reason is used whenever making a decision. Judge Alfred decided to send him on death row based on the facts that he broke the law, using reason it is Justified that Scott Peterson did deserve the Death Penalty.

Counter-Claim However it can be argued that the Death Penalty isn’t ethical and this can be seen in Cameron Todd Willingham’s situation. Cameron Todd Willingham a 38 year old American male was convicted for the murder of his 3 young children by arson. He was then sentenced to Death Penalty and executed in 2004. The authorities said that they assumed that Cameron had killed on of the children through gunshot and then set fire to their home in Texas to conceal the murder. However, after he was executed it was released to the press that their were no gunshot wounds found on any of the children and their cause of death was merely due to suffocation from the Fire. Cameron maintained his innocence and was traumatized from his children’s death

Counter-Claim (cont.) In this situation, we can clearly see that charging him for the murder of his children and putting him on death row was the wrong decision. Not only was he an innocent man, but also he had a family who believed he was innocent. The Death Penalty in this case is perceived as unethical as you are taking away the life of an innocent man, which defies morals and is considered an inhumane act. In reality, they are actually taking away the life of an innocent man and this could be considered as murdering someone as well. His loved ones had lost him even though he was innocent.

Conclusion  To what extent is our judgment on ethical issues

based on reason and/or emotion? In conclusion, an individuals judgment on ethical issues can vary depending on both reason and/or emotion. As seen in my real life situation, Reason can affect an individuals judgment on the issue (Zoe Gilliard). However, as seen in my other RLS Emotion also has an impact on ethical issues such as the Death Penalty. Overall, depending on the specific situation our judgment on ethical/unethical issues is heavily dependent on the reason and emotion behind the situation.