Chapter 1 Suggested Readings and Media Resouces

The Hippocratic Oath
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_oath.html

On Common Morality:
Robert M. Veatch, “Is There a Common Morality?” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 13, no. 3 (2003).
(http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/kennedy_institute_of_ethics_journal/v013/13.3veatch.html)

On Principlism:
J. P. DeMarco, “Principlism and Moral Dilemmas: A New Principle,” Journal of Medical Ethics 31 (2005): 101–5.

Principlism as Practical Instrument: An Illuminating Case Study
John-Stewart Gordon, Oliver Rauprich, and Jochen Vollman, “Applying the Four-Principle Approach,” Bioethics 25 (2011): 293–300, with a reply by Tom Beauchamp, “Making Principlism Practical: A Commentary on Gordon, Rauprich, and Vollmann,” Bioethics 25 (2011): 301–3.

Plato’s Republic, Book 1
Book 1 of Plato’s Republic contains an insightful debate between Cephalus and Socrates about the requirements of justice. According to Cephalus, justice requires one to repay his or her debts. Socrates, however, points out that it is not always right to repay one’s debts. It would not be right to return someone’s weapons if that person is not in a right state of mine, for example, because it might lead to the harm of an innocent third party. This early example of a moral dilemma illustrates a conflict between justice and nonmaleficence.

Sophie’s Choice (1982)
This film adaptation of William Styron’s novel presents a scene in which Sophie, a Jewish mother of two, is forced into a moral dilemma. A Nazi soldier decides to kill one of Sophie’s children but forces her to choose which one will live and which one will die. If she fails to make a choice, both children will be killed. It is inherently unfair to choose between the two children, but there is moral reason to do so in order to save one from certain death.