(Situational?) Ethics
In pharmacology class yesterday, we were taught about ethics. The speaker's opinion was that actions can fall into at least two categories: legal/ethical, legal/unethical, illegal/ethical, and illegal/unethical. He thought the pharmacy licensing board in CA would be okay with illegal/ethical actions.
Is it ever right for a Christian to disobey the law when ethics would point in that direction? Is it right to drive over the speed limit to get a dying person to the hospital? Would it be right to dispense anti-seizure medication (without a prescription) to someone visiting the area who lost their medication (the scenario presented by the speaker)?
Is it valid in such a case to follow the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter? Obviously lawmakers would really not desire to have someone die because I was unwilling to disobey the law.
On the other hand, the Bible might indicate that I should obey the government in everything as long as it doesn't conflict with my Christian calling. Allowing someone to die is not as bad, I suppose, as killing them myself.
Another question regards the term "situational ethics." Is that what I would be guilty of if I illegally dispensed medication when the situation seemed to call for it? If so, are situational ethics wrong? Or are they just tailoring my ethics properly to a given scenario? My set of ethics would not change, but rather my behavior.
Is it ever right for a Christian to disobey the law when ethics would point in that direction? Is it right to drive over the speed limit to get a dying person to the hospital? Would it be right to dispense anti-seizure medication (without a prescription) to someone visiting the area who lost their medication (the scenario presented by the speaker)?
Is it valid in such a case to follow the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter? Obviously lawmakers would really not desire to have someone die because I was unwilling to disobey the law.
On the other hand, the Bible might indicate that I should obey the government in everything as long as it doesn't conflict with my Christian calling. Allowing someone to die is not as bad, I suppose, as killing them myself.
Another question regards the term "situational ethics." Is that what I would be guilty of if I illegally dispensed medication when the situation seemed to call for it? If so, are situational ethics wrong? Or are they just tailoring my ethics properly to a given scenario? My set of ethics would not change, but rather my behavior.
posted by Claire at 13:41
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