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Etiese perspektiewe op die gebruik van embrionale weefsel vir terapeutiese doeleindesCrous, Liesl 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The progress that has been made over the last decade in the field of medical technology, has made it
possible to treat medical conditions today, that was considered incurable before. In the medical field
there are three milestones in particular which has led to important new discoveries. These are the
charting of the human genome, the development of cloning techniques, and the discovery that stem cells
could be used in the treatment of a great number of illnesses, as well as the regeneration of sick or
damaged tissue.
The development of these therapies are, however, morally controversial. The main reason for this is the
fact that in most cases, these techniques involve research on, or the use of, embryonic cells. The reason
why many people believe that it is morally problematic to use embryo tissue for research and/or
therapeutic purposes, is because embryonic cells have the potential to develop into fully independent
human persons. It is, however, also this characteristic of these cells which makes them so suitable for
use in stem cell therapies: Because certain types of stem cells, especially stem cells that are found in
embryos in an early stage of development, have not yet differentiated into specific cell types, they can
be used to repair any cell type in a person with a compatible tissue type. The reason for this is that
undifferentiated stem cells have the potential to change into any cell type found in the human body.
The question that arises when a decision about the moral acceptability of these therapies has to be made
is whether one can say that an existing person who happens to be ill, has a higher moral standing than
an embryo. The only way in which the use of embryo tissue could be morally justified, would thus be if
it could be proved that the moral standing of an embryo is not equal to the moral standing of a person.
The other important consideration that has to be taken into account when the moral acceptability of
these therapies has to be taken into account is the fact that it is possible to harvest stem cells from a
number of sources. Some of these sources of stem cells are less controversial than others.
The discussion of the moral problems arising from the use of embryo tissue for therapeutic purposes,
would thus, in this thesis, focus to a large extent on determining what the moral status of the embryo
might be. The different positions with respect to the moral standing of the embryo will be discussed in
the light of arguments for, as well as against the use of embryo tissue for therapeutic purposes. An explanation will also be given of therapies for which the use of embryo tissue might be needed, at
present as well as in the future. The potential gains for people suffering from certain conditions, could
possibly serve as a justification for destroying embryos for therapeutic uses.
The main purpose of this thesis is to be able to give morally justifiable reasons for the therapeutic use of
embryo tissue. The specific conditions that would have to be met to make these therapies morally
justifiable will also be explained. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vordering wat die afgelope dekade gemaak is ten opsigte van mediese tegnologie, het tot gevolg
gehad dat dit vandag moontlik is om siektetoestande te behandel wat voorheen as ongeneeslik beskou
is. Daar is veral drie belangrike mylpale wat in die mediese veld tot belangrike nuwe ontdekkings gelei
het, naamlik die kartering van die menslike genoom, die ontwikkeling van kloningstegnieke, en die
ontdekking dat stamselle gebruik kan word vir die behandeling van 'n groot aantal siektetoestande,
asook die regenereering van siek of beskadigde weefsel.
Die ontwikkeling van hierdie terapieë is egter moreel kontroversieel. Die rede hiervoor is dat hierdie
tegnieke in die meeste gevalle navorsing op, of die gebruik van embrionale selle behels. Die rede
waarom baie mense van mening is dat dit moreel problematies is om embrionale weefsel vir navorsing
enlofterapeutiese doeleindes te gebruik, is omdat embrionale selle die potensiaal het om te ontwikkel
tot volwaardige persone. Dit is egter ook hierdie eienskap van hierdie selle wat hulle so geskik maak vir
terapeutiese doeleindes: Omdat sekere tipes stamselle, veral stamselle wat verkry word van embrio's
wat in 'n vroeë stadium van ontwikkeling verkeer, nog nie gedifferensieer is wat seltipe betrefnie, kan
hulle gebruik word om enige seltipe in die liggaam van 'n persoon met 'n verenigbare weefseltipe te
herstel. Die rede hiervoor is dat ongedifferensieerde stamselle die potensiaal het om in enige seltipe wat
in die menslike liggaam voorkom, te verander.
Die vraag wat ontstaan wanneer daar besluit moet word oor die morele aanvaarbaarheid van hierdie
terapieë, is of daar gesê kan word dat 'n reeds bestaande persoon wat siek is, 'n hoër morele status sou
hê as 'n embrio. Die enigste manier waarop die gebruik van embrionale selle moreel regverdigbaar sou
wees, sou dus wees indien daar bewys kan word dat die morele status van 'n embrio nie gelykstaande is
aan die morele status van 'n persoon nie. Die ander belangrike oorweging wat in ag geneem moet word
wanneer die morele aanvaarbaarheid van hierdie terapieë beoordeel moet word, is dat dit moontlik is om
stamselle te verkry uit 'n verskeidenheid bronne. Sommige van hierdie bronne van stamselle is moreel
minder kontroversieel as ander.
Die bespreking van die morele problematiek rondom die gebruik van embrionale weefsel VIr
terapeutiese doeleindes in hierdie tesis, sal dus tot 'n groot mate fokus op die bepaling van die morele status van die embrio. Die verskillende standpunte oor die morele status van die embrio sal bespreek
word in die lig van argumente vir, sowel as teen die gebruik van embrionale weefsel vir terapeutiese
doeleindes. Daar salook 'n verduideliking gegee word van watter tipe terapieë waarvoor die gebruik
van embrionale weefsel nodig sou wees, tans en in die toekoms moontlik sou wees. Die potensiële baat
wat siek persone uit hierdie terapieë sou kon vind, sou moontlik ook as 'n regverdiging vir die
vernietiging van embrio's vir terapeutiese doeleindes kon dien.
Die uiteindelike doel van hierdie tesis is om moreel regverdigbare redes te kan gee vir die terapeutiese
gebruik van embrionale weefsel. Die spesifieke voorwaardes wat nagekom sou moes word om hierdie
terapieë moreel regverdigbaar te maak, salook verduidelik word.
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Cultural conceptions of research and informed consent.Gasa, Nolwazi Bright Khanyisile. January 1999 (has links)
AIDS has had a negative impact on developing countries. Because most developing countries
cannot afford the new antiretroviral drug therapies, it has been suggested that preventive
vaccines might reduce the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic (Bloom, 1998). The clinical
trials of AIDS vaccines do, however, present with complex ethical issues such as informed
consent. Informed consent is primarily grounded on the Western principle of respect for
individuals as autonomous agents. This may be at variance, however, with African societies'
emphasis on the social embeddedness of the individual.
The current study forms part of the HIVNET vaccine trials to be conducted in Hlabisa, in
Northern Zululand, under the auspices of the South African Medical Research Council. The
main aim of the study was to explore key informants' cultural conceptions of research and
informed consent in order to facilitate community consultation and cultural sensitivity.
Maximum variation sampling was used to select twenty-three key informants, who are in
leadership positions within Hlabisa. An interview guide was used to facilitate narrative
disclosure of cultural conceptions of research and informed consent. Perceptions of research,
conceptions of the informed consent process, and projected motivations for why individuals
agree to participate in studies were explored during interviews.
Results suggest that members of the Hlabisa community have a limited understanding of the
Western research process. Community education about research is therefore warranted.
Informants indicated that community members would value the establishment of a
relationship characterised by mutual respect for cultural differences between researchers and
participants. This was perceived as likely to facilitate shared decision-making, and the
reduction of the power differentials that exist between researchers and participants. While the
involvement of key community leaders and family members was recommended by most
informants, a few informants felt that participants could also make individual decisions about
participation. The theoretical implications of the study are considered last. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.
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Examination of the systems of authority of three Canadian museums and the challenges of aboriginal peoplesMattson, Linda Karen 11 1900 (has links)
In order to illustrate why museums are frequently sites of conflict and
mediation, this dissertation examines the complex conditions under which
knowledge is produced and disseminated at three Canadian museums.
Approaching museums as social arenas or contact zones, the dissertation exposes
power struggles in museums and dislodges a whole set of assumptions about what
museums are and how they function.
For the study I selected the following museums with anthropological
mandates: MacBride Museum (Whitehorse), Prince of Wales Northern Heritage
Centre (Yellowknife), and Vancouver Museum (Vancouver). The three museums
were chosen because their geographical proximity to large communities of
Aboriginal Peoples enabled an exploration of the changing relationships between
them. Historically, museums have held the power to classify and define Aboriginal
Peoples. Relatively recently, however Aboriginal Peoples have in various ways
(by imposing constraints on how they and their cultures are exhibited, and through
land claims and repatriation requests) been challenging their historic relationships
with museums.
In chapter one I discuss my objectives, methodology, and the work of those
scholars who shaped this dissertation. Chapter two explores the invention of
museums in the western world and begins linking the three Canadian museums
with knowledge and power. In chapters three, four, and five I portray the mobility
and productivity of three museums (MacBride Museum, PWNHC, and Vancouver
Museum) in three distinct regions of Canada. I illustrate their ability to articulate
identity, power, and tradition as well as the role they perform in the social
organization of power relations. Each chapter begins with a description of the
historical roots of power relations at each institution. This leads into a discussion
of each museum's present system of authority: the state, governing bodies, professional staff and, increasingly, Aboriginal representatives. In the process I
reveal some of the political pressures, institutional hierarchies, and personal
conflicts that shape knowledge within these institutions.
Chapter six is a review and critical analysis of systems of authority of the
three museums and the challenges presented by Aboriginal Peoples. I conclude
with the issues raised at the outset, which continue to confront the Canadian
museum community, issues of inclusion and the limitations of cross-cultural
translation, repatriation, and representation.
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Deconstruction, dialectics and a sense of relatednessWolf, Frederick Andrew 11 1900 (has links)
The text deconstructs notions of ideal community which, while affinning
irmnediate proximate human relations, effectiveiy disaffirms and thus
devalues those mediated over distance and time. It argues against such
social ontologies as the basis of what should constitute ideal consociality.
In place of the idealized notions of community critiqued, the work elaborates an ontological ethics of responsibility as a basis for conceptualizing ethical relations. The text grounds its ethic in what is proffered to be humankind's ontological relatedness to the other, regardless of the nature (human or nonhuman) or proximity (face-to-face or nonface-to-face) of that other. Moreover, the text sets forth the importance of humankind developing a sense of this ontological relatedness. The work discusses this sense-of-relatedness from
three perspectives. First, it elaborates a philosophic naturalism to establish in humankind an ontological basis for ethical relations. Second, it claims that humankind is in the world, existentially, who and what it understands itself to be with respect to the depth with which it apprehends a sense of its ontological relatedness to all that there is. Third, it argues that this sense-ofrelatedness may be understood as a religious sensibility. / Religious Studies / M.Th. (Religious Studies)
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Influence of pharmaceutical advertising on consumers: an exploratory descriptive studyKnoesen, Brent Claud January 2007 (has links)
Pharmaceutical advertising involves the advertising of medicines, medical devices, and healthcare services. A review of available international literature indicates the belief that pharmaceutical advertisements negatively affect healthcare decisions made by consumers. Very little research has been conducted to determine how consumers in South Africa (SA) are affected by pharmaceutical advertisements. This study aimed to determine how consumers in the Nelson Mandela Metropole (NMM) perceive pharmaceutical advertisements. More specific objectives included the investigation of legislation in SA employed in pharmaceutical advertisements, the interpretation and misinterpretation of the advertisements, and the identification of problematic areas in this form of advertising. South African legislation applied to pharmaceutical advertisements was investigated by means of a literature review. A qualitative research design was also used to achieve the aim and objectives. This included a focus group consisting of six randomly selected participants in the NMM. A consumer survey, consisting of a 100 consumers obtained from 10 randomly selected community pharmacies within the NMM, supported the findings of the qualitative techniques. The themes identified in the focus group were incorporated into a questionnaire used in the consumer survey. Three randomly selected pharmaceutical advertisements were also decoded to interpret the components employed in each. The results determined that pharmaceutical advertising is a marketing tool that incorporates various emotional and psychological techniques to persuade consumers. It was also evident that consumers can misinterpret pharmaceutical advertisements. Various legal and ethical problems were identified in pharmaceutical advertisements. These results showed that pharmaceutical advertisements have the possibility of negatively affecting consumers’ healthcare decisions and warrants further investigation.
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Examination of the systems of authority of three Canadian museums and the challenges of aboriginal peoplesMattson, Linda Karen 11 1900 (has links)
In order to illustrate why museums are frequently sites of conflict and
mediation, this dissertation examines the complex conditions under which
knowledge is produced and disseminated at three Canadian museums.
Approaching museums as social arenas or contact zones, the dissertation exposes
power struggles in museums and dislodges a whole set of assumptions about what
museums are and how they function.
For the study I selected the following museums with anthropological
mandates: MacBride Museum (Whitehorse), Prince of Wales Northern Heritage
Centre (Yellowknife), and Vancouver Museum (Vancouver). The three museums
were chosen because their geographical proximity to large communities of
Aboriginal Peoples enabled an exploration of the changing relationships between
them. Historically, museums have held the power to classify and define Aboriginal
Peoples. Relatively recently, however Aboriginal Peoples have in various ways
(by imposing constraints on how they and their cultures are exhibited, and through
land claims and repatriation requests) been challenging their historic relationships
with museums.
In chapter one I discuss my objectives, methodology, and the work of those
scholars who shaped this dissertation. Chapter two explores the invention of
museums in the western world and begins linking the three Canadian museums
with knowledge and power. In chapters three, four, and five I portray the mobility
and productivity of three museums (MacBride Museum, PWNHC, and Vancouver
Museum) in three distinct regions of Canada. I illustrate their ability to articulate
identity, power, and tradition as well as the role they perform in the social
organization of power relations. Each chapter begins with a description of the
historical roots of power relations at each institution. This leads into a discussion
of each museum's present system of authority: the state, governing bodies, professional staff and, increasingly, Aboriginal representatives. In the process I
reveal some of the political pressures, institutional hierarchies, and personal
conflicts that shape knowledge within these institutions.
Chapter six is a review and critical analysis of systems of authority of the
three museums and the challenges presented by Aboriginal Peoples. I conclude
with the issues raised at the outset, which continue to confront the Canadian
museum community, issues of inclusion and the limitations of cross-cultural
translation, repatriation, and representation. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate
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Ethics in Technical Communication: Historical Context for the Human Radiation ExperimentsAudrain, Susan Connor 08 1900 (has links)
To illustrate the intersection of ethical language and ethical frameworks within technical communication, this dissertation analyzes the history and documentation of the human radiation experiments of the 1940s through the 1970s. Research propositions included clarifying the link between medical documentation and technical communication by reviewing the literature that links the two disciplines from the ancient period to the present; establishing an appropriate historiography for the human radiation experiments by providing a context of the military, political, medical, and rhetorical milieu of the 1940s to the 1970s; closely examining and analyzing actual human radiation experiment documentation, including proposals, letters, memos, and consent forms, looking for established rhetorical constructions that indicate a document adheres to or diverts from specific ethical frameworks; and suggesting the importance of the human radiation documents for studying ethics in technical communication. Close rhetorical analysis of the documents included with this project reveals consistent patterns of metadiscourse, passive and nominal writing styles, and other rhetorical constructions, including negative language, redundancies, hedges, and intensifiers, that could lead a reader to misunderstand the writer's original ethical purpose. Ultimately this project finds that technical communicators cannot classify language itself as ethical or unethical; the language is simply the framework with which the experimenters construct their arguments and communicate their work. Technical communicators can, however, consider the ethical nature of behavior according to specific ethical frameworks and determine whether language contributes to the behavior.
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Emmanuel Levinas and the practice of psychologyDe Wet, Daniel Rudolph 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Psychology as a human science is rendered desperate by the human vacuum in its own contents. This paper argues that by adopting the methods and techniques of the natural sciences, psychology and psychotherapy not only transform the patient or client into an a-historical and a-social entity, but also propose an utopian view of reality and lose the inherent moral character of the psychotherapeutic endeavour. It seems as if the Post-Modern theoretical and psychotherapeutic alternatives do not offer a solution that solves the above mentioned problems. This paper aims to introduce the work of the French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas, as a stimulus providing a different starting point in the search for solutions to the mentioned problems. Such an approach seeks to understand the radically ethical character of the therapeutic meeting by recognising the fundamental responsibility of the therapist, not to “totalise” (that is to reduce) otherness (the not me) into sameness (the for me) by assigning differences into pre-established characteristics, properties and categories. Only by recognising the otherness of the client in the “face-to-face meeting” and reacting to the call of the other can psychotherapy be ethical and render justice to historical and social situatedness of the other facing us in therapy. Some of the implications that the ethical challenge of Levinas holds for psychology will be explored. This includes the implications for the therapeutic meeting, psychological ethics, and the possibility of a “Levinasanian psychology”.
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Entrepreneurial marketing and the Zarathustrian entrepreneur : thoughts, words and deedsSethna, Zubin January 2014 (has links)
This PhD thesis examines the factors that have shaped entrepreneurial cognition and practice in entrepreneurs from within the world’s oldest monotheistic religious community; the Zarathustrian community. Zarathustrianism is the religion that was founded by a Prophet named Zarathustra in approximately 1200 BCE. Marketing and Entrepreneurship have, until quite recently, remained two quite independent scholarly domains. In 2002, Morris et al., provided a definition of Entrepreneurial Marketing as, "an integrative construct for conceptualising marketing in an era of change, complexity, chaos, contradiction, and diminishing resources, and one that will manifest itself differently as companies age and grow. It fuses key aspects of recent developments in marketing thought and practice with those in the entrepreneurship area into one comprehensive construct". Since then, research in this field has grown in significance across the globe. A recent book by Sethna, Jones and Harrigan (2013) presents important theoretical developments with regard to research at the Marketing and Entrepreneurship Interface and which addresses critical issues for businesses, both small and large, from global perspectives, and covers topics such as new venture creation, marketing in Small-to-Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) as well as large companies, renewal of existing businesses facing market challenges, internationalization, innovative cost-effective marketing strategies and practices, along with recent exploration of entrepreneurship theory and entrepreneurial behaviour of individuals and, in organisations. Zarathustrianism has not only been instrumental in shaping nascent civilisation of ancient Iran, but has also wielded a considerable influence on Biblical religions and Greaco-Roman philosophical thought. Zarathustra gave his followers a basic and comprehensive ethical rule to live by, namely that they should think Good Thoughts, speak Good Words and perform Good Deeds (Humata, Hukhta, Hvarshta in the ancient Persian language called Avestan). This PhD thesis explores the impact of these basic tenets – Good Words, Good Thoughts and Good Deeds - on Zarathustrian entrepreneurship. The researcher takes the stance that the realities of the Entrepreneur/Owner-Manager (EOM) are socially constructed, using ‘thoughts, words and deeds’, rather than objectively determined. In doing so, this research is interested in understanding why things are happening to those Zarathustrian EOMs (actors) and how their different experiences eventually shape, nurture and affect the actors’ entrepreneurial behaviour. Thus, throughout this research study, a qualitative research design based on the Carson et al. (2005) perspectives on an ‘integrative multiple mix of methodologies’ is used, but primarily all centred around ethnographic form. The use of narrative theory and life story techniques is further overlaid with the use of the EMICO framework, a qualitative research model developed by Jones and Rowley (2009) as the basis for exploring ‘entrepreneurial marketing and the Zarathustrian entrepreneur’. The findings reveal that whilst the dimensions of the EMICO framework are both usable and valid for Zarathustrian entrepreneurs, when applied to these firms in the context of ‘ethnic’ entrepreneurs, the framework is lacking in two particular areas; Family Support and Religio-Cultural Identity and Influences of business practice. The thesis makes a significant contribution to the EM and ethnic entrepreneurship literature by first of all re-developing and re-naming the framework, 2e(EMICO), and secondly by further extending the knowledge in respect to Zarathustrian entrepreneurship, about which nothing currently exists in the EM literature.
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Poverty and the role of businessGriffiths, Mary Alida 03 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MPhil (Philosophy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / As poverty continues to impact billions of people across the world – to the extent that millions die daily simply because they are too poor to live – there is a pressing ethical question to ask: Who, if anyone, should be taking moral responsibility to end extreme poverty?
The key moral problem that my thesis addresses is that those individuals who should primarily be taking moral responsibility to eradicate extreme poverty because they have the power and thus responsibility to make a real difference are not.
My contention is that capitalism as it is currently practiced perpetuates extreme poverty and that the very individuals who have the greatest power to eradicate poverty do not view this as a real ethical challenge nor as their primary responsibility to address. I argue that these individuals are global corporate business leaders and that extreme poverty will only be eradicated when these leaders take moral responsibility to apply capitalism in a far more sustainable way - a way that has continuity for future generations and that is fundamentally just towards all human beings. The practice of sustainable capitalism as a solution to extreme poverty is dependent on a ‘critical mass’ of business leaders acting in a way that displays virtuous moral character and sets the example for others to follow.
I will assume as a starting point that global poverty does exist and that people dying of poverty when others have far in excess of their needs cannot be ethically justified, irrespective of which moral theory it is viewed from.
My thesis will commence by assessing the virtue of virtue ethics theory in comparison to other moral theories and I will illustrate that virtue ethics theory is most appropriate in addressing the moral problem of extreme poverty because it places moral responsibility firmly on the individual human being rather than on any metaphysical principle or context that exists ‘above’ the individual.
In my analysis of the relationship between virtue and justice, I will specifically argue that capitalism as it is currently being practiced is unjust and unsustainable. I will further argue that it does not represent Aristotle’s ideal of ‘the good life’ for all and that the outdated modernist principles on which capitalism is currently premised, need to be challenged.
Since global corporate business leaders are both the architects of capitalism as we currently experience it and the greatest beneficiaries of it, they have the corresponding greatest moral responsibility to act to eradicate extreme poverty. Business leaders need to take primary moral responsibility to eradicate extreme poverty through practicing a more just and sustainable form of capitalism that is inclusive of all, balancing society and profit needs.
In closing I will propose that the African humanist concept of ‘ubuntu’ provides a unique opportunity in South Africa to inform an ethical consciousness that could underpin a future sustainable capitalist approach and perhaps serve as an example to influence global corporate business leaders.
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