Role of Mature Care Ethics in Addressing Bioethical Issues: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

In this thesis, I critically examine the moral issues surrounding three bioethical topics. Before attempting to do so, in the introduction part of this thesis, I outline some limitations of traditional moral theories and care ethics, and finally subscribe to the theory of mature care ethics as an analytical tool throughout this thesis. I subscribe to mature care ethics not as a critic of care ethics, but as its more comprehensive version. Mature care ethics has been developed as a normative moral theory by moral philosopher Tove Pettersen. This theory discusses a balanced approach of caring that helps us avoid the risks of an altruistic understanding of care. Subsequently, this thesis proceeds with the analysis of the positions of deontology, utilitarianism, and sometimes care ethics regarding these three bioethical issues: the vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism debate, voluntary active euthanasia of terminally ill patients, and organ transplantation for people with substance use disorder in the following chapters. Here, I argue that, as situations vary, we should make decisions based on their own weight. If we are strict about rules or always aim for the best possible outcomes, it will be morally problematic for us to make moral decisions in a given situation. Hence, from the perspective of mature care, I conclude that while saving a life is sometimes morally correct, sacrificing a life is not morally wrong. Mature care ethics does not demand that every life be saved — it demands that every decision be made with emotion and reason both; therefore, we never become a blind carer.