Katarina Komenska

Traditional ethical frameworks are challenged in disaster settings as they are often too rigorous to be applied to such situations. Nonetheless, the role of moral theories in discussions on disasters should not be dismissed. Indeed, some of the ideas and concepts in traditional ethical frameworks and moral theories may be a source of inspiration in such debates. Therefore, the present paper presents the two main concepts in Albert Schweitzer’s philosophical thinking: the concept of cultural crisis and his understanding of ethics. These concepts form the basis of Schweitzer’s formulation of an ethics of the reverence for life as an answer to the cultural crisis and the need for a new ethics for a modern, humane civilisation. His thinking is reflected through the scope of disaster ethics and its potential to enrich discussions on disaster ethics is critically analysed.

The work of Hugolín Gavlovič belongs is part of the most influential literary and didactic heritage of 18th century literature in the region of contemporary Slovakia. Even though Gavlovič was not a systematic moral philosopher, the role and importance of ethics in his literary work is significant. He contributed greatly to the debate on moral education, which was (in the context of that time) linked to the fulfilment of God's will and to the accomplishment of a good life. In his extensive poetic work Valaská škola mravúv stodola [Shepherd´s school of morals], the author not only formulated moral norms but, inspired by classical Greek philosophy, he also defined them in the wider ethical context of virtue, morals, and human nature. In this study, the historical context of his work, marked by the literary and cultural transition to the Enlightenment era, will be presented, concepts related to the understanding of good life (as a goal of moral education) will be identified, and the possibility for further philosophical and ethical analysis of Gavlovič’s work will be offered (through a reflexion of Aristotle’s thoughts referred to in Valaská škola). Overall, the paper offers an original point of view on how to interpret the thoughts of Hugolín Gavlovič from the perspective of ethics. This has been, despite the impact of his work, rather omitted.

In Peter Singer’s article “The Challenge of Brain Death for the Sanctity of Life Ethic”, he articulates that ethics has always played an important role in defining death. He claims that the demand for redefining death spreads rather from new ethical challenges than from a new, scientifically improved understanding of the nature of death. As thorough as his plea for dismissal of the brain-death definition is, he does not avoid the depiction of the complementary relationship between science and ethics. Quite the opposite, he tends to formulate a stronger, philosophically more consistent argument to help science and medical practitioners to define life, death, and the quality of life. In my commentary, I would like to focus on two issues presented in Singer’s study. Firstly, I will critically analyze the relationship between science and ethics. Secondly, I will follow on from Singer’s arguments differentiating between end of life as an organism and end of life as a person. The latter case is necessarily linked with man’s participation in her/his life, setting life goals, and fulfilling her/his idea of good life. Through the consequential definition of the dignity in ethics of social consequences, I will try to support Singer’s idea.

The aim of the paper is to present and reflect on some of the current theories of human dignity and autonomy. The understanding of autonomy in the 4 principles theory of Beauchamp and Childress will be the starting point of this paper as it presents medical ethics and health care ethics as patient-orientated model with special attention paid to the needs and rights of the patient. According to this orientation of health care ethics, the concept of human dignity plays an important role, too. The understanding of this concept in ethics of social consequences will be analyzed. In the final part of the paper, the implication of these principles to the codes of conduct of health care professionals will be presented.

Due to the interdisciplinary nature of bioethics, there are many ways of how its problems can be presented and introduced to students. Which method is used by a teacher depends on the student group; their age, previous bioethical knowledge, the overall aim of their studies. The aim of this article is to emphasize the necessity of the different content of bioethical modules for students of medical sciences and students of ethics. Future physicians and nurses are supposed to learn what the role of ethics is in their professions and how to recognize moral dilemmas (mostly through case studies), while the task of ethics students is different. Their goal is to extend their abilities to discover moral conflicts, to analyze them more deeply, and to argue about the problems in a more consistent and theoretical way. In the final part of the paper, I present the opinion that a textual seminar, which does not necessarily need to be focused on the problems of bioethics, can help students to a wider and more complex understanding of bioethical issues.

In humanitarian actions, people respond to crisis and disaster situations in which victims are unable to recover on their own and in which their vulnerability puts them at further risk. Individuals involved in humanitarian work are driven by strong motivation which source can be identified using an ethics-based approach. Moral motivation is the basis for the commitment to the moral course of the human agent’s action. Humanitarian ethics shows us it is important to renew the discussion on the role of moral motivation in ethical decision-making. Some of the moral sources of motivation will be critically examined in this study—namely, the partiality, the popularity of ethics, the value declaration, and moral motivation based on moral obligation.

The paper analyzes ethical codes in the health care profession in Slovakia while considering the four principle approach in medical ethics formulated by Beauchamp and Childress. For these purposes, the individual principles of this theory are identified and presented in light of performance in the health care profession. The second part introduces the main legal documents which represent the professional codes of ethics for physicians, nurses and midwives in Slovakia. In those, I have tried to identify the presence of basic principles of medical ethics and the way they are formulated in the Slovak health care system. The aim is to show the capabilities of professional health care ethics in Slovakia to react to current trends of medical ethics and models within the health care system.

Nowadays, the concept of 3 Rs is considered to be the basis of modern research methods and practices using animals in research. The need to implement it into individual research activities is part of legislations in different countries (e.g. countries of the EU, Australia, New Zealand, USA, etc.). Similarly, it is considered as a basis of professional codes of conducts of scientists using animals in their research, as it emphasizes the ethical obligation of scientists to reduce the suffering of sentient animals and to increase their quality of life. Still, the acceptance of the 3 Rs as a normative basis without its critical evaluation should be avoided. The goal of this paper therefore is to analyse the concept of 3 Rs and shows its weaknesses, which I see in the absence of the aspect of moral agency and the moral responsibility in it. This could bind scientists to the living objects of their research and this way creates an ethically relevant relationship.