Critical Thinking Analysis
There is a close relationship between critical thinking and ethics. Critical thinking is a person’s form of judgement that has a specific reflective purpose. When people use critical thinking, they arrive into a decision that helps them to solve a given problem. Conversely, ethics concerns what is right and wrong. It is a set of choices that people make on the nature of actions that they need to take when faced with complex issues (Hooker, Mason and Miller, 2000). Critical thinking can be applied in analyzing the given scenario. The video exposes what is going on in the international black market: the buying and selling of human kidney. The kidneys are obtained from executed prisoners from the Chinese Military and are used by doctors who do kidney transplants to assist patients who need kidneys.
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All participants in the chosen scenario have a moral responsibility. For example, the Chinese Military have a moral responsibility of ensuring that all prisoners are given good care till the end of their terms. In addition, the guards at the military have a moral responsibility of ensuring maximum safety of all prisoners. The Chinese doctors who do transplants have a moral responsibility of ensuring that all patients who are in need of kidney obtain healthy and safe organs at the right time. The International Transplantation Society has a moral responsibility of making sure that patients who need kidneys across the world are able to get it. These kidneys must be free from diseases and must match the blood groups of patients.
It is difficult to identify the stakeholders’ moral failings because each and every one of them has the power to judge morality of their actions. The theory of subjective relativism assumes that people decide what is either right or wrong for themselves and people can have varied opinions (Hooker, Mason and Miller, 2000). In this case, I can say that the Chinese military and the guards failed to maximize safety of prisoners. The Chinese doctors and the International Transplantation Society saved patients’ lives at the expense of prisoners. There are two ideals that are in conflict in this scenario. The stakeholders involved are not sure whether to save the lives of prisoners and allow patients to die or to kill prisoners and keep patients alive.
According to Consequentialism theory, the results of an act will determine whether the act is wrong or right. In addition, an act that produces more good consequences is considered a more right act (Mulgan, 2001). Therefore, the best outcome in the given scenario is the fact that two kidneys from one prisoner can be used to save the lives of two patients suppose each patient was in need of only one kidney. In such a time, the act of retrieving the two kidneys will only lead to death of only one prisoner. Essentially, lives that are saved will outnumber the lives lost, making the act ethical as far as Consequentialism theory is concerned.
The principles and rules of critical thinking are applicable to ethical reasoning because both ethical reasoning and critical thinking follow similar guidelines. Both critical thinking and ethical reasoning allow an individual to study a given case in detail and to identify the most appropriate solution. For instance, the Chinese Military, the guards, the doctors, and International Transplantation Society applied both critical thinking and ethical reasoning to analyze the present case in detail and to determine the best solution.
If everyone followed the rules and guidelines of logic, there would still be a need for ethical decision making. This is because the rules and guidelines only assist an individual to determine possible courses of action when surrounded by an issue. Ethical decision making is necessary to make individuals do only that which is right and to avoid that which is wrong.
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