Posted: September 16th, 2017

Ethical issues relating to Genetically Modified foods

Ethical issues relating to Genetically Modified foods

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Here are some initial suggestions for how to approach an issue from a moral point of view.
Initial Questions:

a) Make clear what exactly the issue is and who the relevant agent or agents are. Who is acting, who is affected?
b) Which are the morally relevant consequences?
c) Are there any fundamental rights and obligations at stake?
d) Are there any social role related duties involved? Such as e.g. parent-child, employer/employee, teacher/student?

Moral theoretical approaches:

1.) Kantian: Is anyone being disrespected by being used merely as a means? Are any individual rights in danger? Which principle would we be willing to live under as a general law?

2.) Utilitarian: Is there an answer that clearly has a more beneficial outcome in terms of general well-being? When everyone’s well-being is regarded as equally important, what would be the best outcome?

3) Can there be an appeal to essential human traits, or a human nature? Is there what may be labeled “human dignity” at stake?

In many cases sound moral thinking comes down to finding a way that maximizes well-being, while also not violating any rights/disrespecting any person in the Kantian sense or disrespecting human life.

What complicates matters is that you may want to take social and cultural aspects in to account when making a moral decision:

4) Is the proposed answer compatible with the affected agents’ sense of identity, cultural and religious belonging, social roles and other aspects constituting the agents’ actual lived moral world? What does our common morality say, if anything?

Thinking Morally
Consider question a -d and considerations 1 – 4 (above) and use your good judgment to reach an understanding. Yes, it requires deliberation and judgment. Seek to make your various moral and non-moral convictions as free of contradictions as possible, reach for what John Rawls called a reflective equilibrium.