There are multifaceted views according to Christian doctrines on the nature of human beings. One of the most important of the views is how sacred life is. Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God (Lyons, Eric & Thompson, 2002). Killing whether directly or indirectly is a sin. Besides this, human beings are a representation of God on this earth. Other than allowing morals to guide individuals on how to relate with each other, Christianity dictates that believers should treat each other people with honor because in doing so, they might welcome angels without their knowledge.
The theory of moral status that would suit the view given above is that of moral agency. It concerns one’s ability to act in accordance with morality. The theory also entails rational decision making based on the options that the environment the person is in presents ( Heersmink, 2017) . Given that human life is sacred and it should be respected, with respect to whether an individual should end a life or not, they have to make a decision while having in mind the implications of the decision made.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Jessica is torn between protecting the life inside her or terminating her pregnancy to be able to sustain herself economically in the near future. The theories that best describe her are moral agency and sentience. Sentience theory fails to recognize the moral status of a fetus or other beings that are not in a position to make rational decisions due to their state of being. Besides this, the theory of cognitive properties can be used to describe Jessica. It subverts the status of a fetus. Mary believes that the life of the fetus is on God’s hands and that Jessica and her husband should submit the dilemma of having a disabled baby to God. She insists that the pregnancy should not be terminated under any circumstance because God will provide the means of taking care of the baby. The theory that best describes her is hence that of moral agency. She strongly thinks that the moral decision to make is baring the child. Dr. Wilson is inclined to the theories of cognitive properties, sentience as well as the theory of relationships. He advises Jessica that abortion is a safe medical alternative to giving birth to a child with congenital abnormalities. Hence, he disregards the moral status of the fetus. Marco is ready to support his wife regardless of the decision she makes. Being in a neutral position, the theory that best describes him is that of moral agency. Based on the perception he portrays, he believes in having a moral obligation of allowing Jessica to make the decision on her own. Presumably, he understands that Jessica is an adult who is capable of making the right decision when she is in the right state of mind. Because of the reasons behind each of the above person’s action, I strongly believe each of them is best describes with the theory or theories chosen.
The theory of moral agency positively influences Maria’s tendency to advise Jessica to make a pro-life decision. The same theory describes Marco decision of allowing Jessica to make an autonomous decision. On the other hand, the theories that best describe Doctor Wilson do not greatly value human life or the moral status of a fetus. Due to this, he advises Jessica that abortion is a good decision to make given the likelihood of the child being born without arms and possibly with Down syndrome (Clark, 2000).
I agree with the theory of moral agency because of a few reasons. First of all, in a way, it is not biased because it is based on one’s morals as well as believes of what is morally right and what is not. Secondly, it allows an interplay of several aspects before a particular decision is made. As a result, it is possible for one to make a well thought out decision. Besides, one is also likely to deliberate on the possible consequences as a result of making a particular decision. In doing this, one is likely to be mentally prepared in case of any unfortunate or unforeseen occurrence.
Moral agency influences recommendation for action in different ways. First of all, it allows the independent party, which is the party which the decision does not affect to appropriately advise the other person. The two parties will hence make informed decisions, but one will be in light with the course of action and the other in light with one’s advice given the current state of affairs. In an indirect way, it influences one to hold back to allow the other to make a decision based on their preferences, hence an autonomous undertaking ( Charisi et al., 2017) .
References
Charisi, V., Dennis, L., Fisher, M., Lieck, R., Matthias, A., Slavkovik, M., ... & Yampolskiy, R. (2017). Towards moral autonomous systems. arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.04741 .
Clark, A. (2000). A theory of sentience . Clarendon Press.
Heersmink, R. (2017). Distributed cognition and distributed morality: Agency, artifacts and systems. Science and engineering ethics , 23 (2), 431-448.
Lyons, E., & Thompson, B. (2002). In the ‘Image and Likeness of God’[Part I]. Reason & Revelation , 22 (3), 17-23.
