Surname 1

First Name Surname

Instructor
Course
Date
Ethical Theories
Utilitarianism as pointed out by Harsanyi (133) is among the most influential theories
that try to put forward belief that an actions wrongness or rightness is determined by its outcome
to a large number of people, is the outcome good or it is a bad one? Considering Act
utilitarianisms theory that only recognizes activities that maximize happiness and lowering
sadness, Nurse George's action of signing the donor card was appropriate. Even though nurse
went against Doctors codes of practice, eight individuals benefited from Mikes organs and
tissues that could otherwise go to waste since his death was evident. According to this theory,
moral acts are for the betterment of life like increasing pleasure and happiness, Forced donation
of organs and tissues could rescue other eight lives from dying. Moral code or codes of practice
are ignored in this kind of situations.
Now looking into deontology as defined by Gibson (257), ethical kind of argument
focuses on action being right or wrong regardless of its outcome and consequences. Nurse
George forging donation signature is an illegal action from literal point of view or by considering
codes of ethics, but according to Immanuel Kant deontology perspective, this was a right action.
Mike, on his condition, was not able to sign his donation card, and no one else was present to do
the same, neither the police nor other patients could do it and according to the Nurse, it was
evident that Mike would die and thus he could make utility of his organs and tissues (Statman,
78). Basing arguments on the above facts, Nurse George did the right thing and by not
considering how Mikes parents would feel. Kant came up with three particular ways of
explaining philosophical work. First, he says that one should act in a way that his action can be
modified into a universal law that applies to anybody in the same situation. Another approach is

Surname 2
that one should act in a way that treats humanity and as if one is in the law-making panel and at
the same time the king.
Applying the principle of permissible harm Rasmussen (351), Mike portrays the picture
of switch lock key that is used to stop the trolley from hitting eight innocent persons. When a
cart is moving at high speed toward six innocent people the best option is to throw a switch lock
key and kill people on the branch line.
Nurse George did a wise thing taking into account theory of virtue and ethics that came
all the way from Aristotle and Plato, which describes virtue ethics as the act of wisdom. This
rational thought of signing the George signing Mike's donation card before his death was an idea
that could not be familiar to any other persons (Kamtekar, 459).
Imagine you are making a telephone call from a booth in a nearby shopping mall and as
you leave, the booth attendant drops all her documents that end up scattering all over, will you
stop and help her just before those who are in rush step onto her valuable papers? This question
is applied to virtue ethics in which one uses his or her common sense to make the right decision
that is beneficial to some individuals (Doris 504). Now you can put yourself into Nurse George
situation by comparing the two situations.

Works cited
Gibson, Kevin. "The moral basis of stakeholder theory." Journal of business ethics 26.3 (2000):
245-257.
Harsanyi, John C. "Rule utilitarianism, rights, obligations and the theory of rational behavior."
Theory and Decision 12.2 (1980): 115-133.
Kamtekar, Rachana. "Situationism and Virtue Ethics on the Content of Our Character*." Ethics
114.3 (2004): 458-491.

Surname 3
LippertRasmussen, K. A. S. P. E. R. "Moral status and the impermissibility of minimizing
violations." Philosophy & public affairs 25.4 (1996): 333-351.
Statman, Daniel, ed. Virtue ethics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1997.