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Common ethical issues include abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, torture, animal rights, the environment, and corporate fraud. The most debated issues arise from ambiguity or clash between ethical codes. Human rights, environmental ethics, and business ethics are also problematic. There is controversy about who should be ethical and when, and these issues will continue to be prevalent.
Some of the more common ethical issues involve abortion, euthanasia, human cloning, torture, animal rights and the environment, and corporate fraud. Ethical problems can arise in a variety of circumstances and what one person sees as a problem is not necessarily problematic for others. The most common ethical issues – i.e. the issues over which there is the most debate and the most tension – tend to arise when one code of ethics is ambiguous about a particular situation, when there is a clash between two codes over an ethical dilemma, or when a code doesn’t address a scenario whatsoever. Codes of ethics that help address these ethical issues can come from a variety of sources. Some are rooted in corporate business, medicine, law or politics. While religions typically provide moral standards and values, some also provide ethical codes.
Questions about the “right to life”
Questions about the value of human life, especially debates about when it begins and how it should end, tend to be among the most common in modern societies. Abortion is perhaps one of the most controversial ethical issues and the debate tends to have a variety of sub-questions such as Has there ever been a time when is abortion ethical?, Is abortion ethical if the fetus is a product of rape or incest?, and Does the age of the fetus affect whether an abortion is ethical?. When only one of the two lives – the woman or the fetus, but not both – can be saved, even more problems arise.
Euthanasia is the formal term for planned, medically assisted dying, and is most commonly discussed in terms of death row inmates and people with chronic and terminal illnesses who want the help of their doctors to end their lives. Proponents of euthanasia, at least when it comes to illness, often argue that it’s a simple matter of mercy. They reason that it’s almost an act of kindness to help people who are already dying pass as humanely as possible. Jurisdictions that have legalized the death penalty for convicted offenders typically rationalize standardized execution as a way to deliver justice. Opponents of both execution and physician-assisted suicide typically argue that life is sacred despite bodily disease or a person’s crimes.
Cloning
Another common ethical issue concerns how human life is created, more specifically within the parameters surrounding cloning and asexual reproduction. Scientists working in this controversial field are looking for ways to create organs, muscle tissue and perhaps even life itself entirely within a laboratory. Proponents argue that this is the next step in human and technological evolution and cite the benefits, both financial and medical, of being able to replicate and recreate the human form. Those against it generally argue that cloning detracts from intrinsic human worth by treating the body as a set of disposable artifacts that can be used for any purpose, arbitrary or otherwise.
Human rights issues
Torture, genocide, racial and economic oppression, and child labor are some examples of the ethical issues that arise under the broad umbrella of human rights. Human rights advocates generally argue that there is a basic minimum standard that governs the freedoms all people should have and the rights they should enjoy. Others, however, argue that even different governments and cultural groups should be able to organize their economies as they wish. When it comes to torture, some say it is justified as a matter of national security.
Ethics and Environment
Problems also arise when it comes to how humans treat the natural world, including animals. People have eaten meat and animal products like eggs and cheese for centuries, and animals are often studied and tested in pharmaceutical and medical laboratories. Animal rights activists, just like human rights activists, say such activities are unacceptable. The debate here is essentially whether there is a minimum of care and freedom animals should enjoy and whether societies have an obligation to prevent cruelty and mistreatment.
Debates about environmental ethics typically involve both corporate and individual responsibility to local ecosystems. Environmentalists argue that the choices people make every day, as well as the long-term policies of companies, impact the environment and should be regulated. Whether the actions of individuals and companies in one place will affect people in other regions of the world – as is the case with ozone depletion, for example – is an argument that should have more of a global say when it comes to establishing regulations and meet out punishments.
Business and corporate concerns
Business ethics are in many ways a subset of their own, but some are broad enough in scope to become large-scale concerns. Financial corruption, extortion, and fraud are some of the bigger problems, but these don’t tend to be as controversial as questions about executive bonuses, shareholder kickbacks, and lobbying practices that prioritize certain business interests in legislation. Many of these businesses are somewhat murky when it comes to legality, and skeptics are quick to point out that just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean it’s morally right.
Controversy and ambiguity
Very few things in ethics studies have clear or straightforward solutions. Not only is there usually controversy about how to resolve particular issues, there is almost always controversy about how to establish the very boundaries of ethics. There is ambiguity about who should be ethical and exactly when they should act according to those standards. In other words, there is confusion about when the ethical issue is relevant in the first place, which will most likely continue to contribute to the prevalence of these and other issues moving forward.
