A cup of coffee and a late night study session seem entirely harmless until this routine begins to mess with a person’s cognitive abilities due to lack of sleep and a jam packed schedule. Often this leads a person to consider taking a prescription drug to possibly boost their wakefulness and concentration. Using the system of gaming ethics and the principle of justifiability the use of study drugs may be ethical. On the contrary, utilizing Bentham and Mill’s idea of Utilitarianism study drugs would be unethical. This paper will explore the possible ethical and unethical components of using medications that allegedly alter students’ thinking ability and productivity. In 2008, 5.7% of college students used amphetamines without medical supervision. …show more content…
78). In other words, actions that can be justified to all people potentially affected by that act are ethical. In this situation using study drugs could be viewed as ethical because it is an individual act. Although a student making a higher grade than another because the use of drugs could seem harmful and unfair. The fact of the matter is most if not all students have access to drugs or substances that could be abused for academic enhancement. Therefore, offering equal opportunity and leaving the decision of whether to take the drugs or not on the individuals preference. Students might argue that there is a financial barrier of accessing these drugs creating an unequal opportunity for people to access them. However, according to data produced by Shire Sulfolk (2016), stated that 53.4% of college students get Adderall from their friends (http://www.statisticbrain.com/adderall-statistics/). Student success in terms of grades has an effect on the teacher and institution where the learning takes place, but if the students are making higher scores and being more effective no reprimand will be put into place. These are possible justifications for the multiple outcomes of using study drugs that students could advocate for. As per usual ethical dilemmas can be seen from different lenses to prove or disprove …show more content…
17). This become problematic when society idolizes people of different backgrounds and ideas. For instance, what I believe is a virtuous person with upstanding morals may be the complete opposite of who another individual would believe is someone with impeccable character. The major part that comes into play with study drugs is not only the question of character, but the idea of excellence. Virtue as excellence is described as “a notion that a virtue is a mean (average) between two extremes” (Neher & Sandin, 2007, p. 23). Abusing Adderall to improve focus is on the extreme side versus a student who decides to stay up late and maybe consume a little more caffeine than usual to combat exhaustion. Using this idea of virtue and excellence taking a study drug would be unethical. Another factor of virtue ethics is the fact that a person must actively “know what they are doing” (Neher & Sandin, 2007, p. 22). An individual cannot simply act rightly or wrongly by chance. With study drugs there is a lot chance, accident, or misunderstanding that could be
In everyday experience one is likely to encounter ethical dilemmas. This paper presents one framework for working through any given dilemma. I have chosen to integrate three theories from Ruggerio Vicent, Bernard Lonergan and Robert Kegan. When making a deceison you must collabrate different views to come to a one conclusion. Ruggerio factors in different aspects that will take effect. Depending on which order of conciousness you are in by Kegan we can closely compare this with Ruggerio's theories also. As I continue I will closely describe the three theories with Kegan and how this will compare with Lonerga's theory combining the three. While Family,
This is said with the idea that even though Adderall is a Schedule II Substance, it doesn’t seem as dangerous or serious as heroin. A big part in the philosophy of this is because it’s extremely easy to obtain on college campuses. In an interview done by Hercampus.com, Amanda states that, “On my campus, […] Adderall is extremely easy to find. Sometimes you don’t even have to ask for it if your friends take it regularly and study with you often […] People will try to sell [Adderall] to get cash for laundry money” (Gladu 2015). Even though it’s a Schedule II drug, a nationwide survey showed that it’s only considered as “very dangerous” by two percent of students. The survey also showed that the percent of student that believe nonmedical use of Adderall is “not dangerous at all” or only “slightly dangerous” is a whopping eighty-one percent (Zadrozny 2015). In short, the students that take Adderall don’t see how it can affect them because they are getting the drug from their friend, or classmate, and not in some dark alleyway associated with the more intense
But Brown is not part of this 3-5% of the population. For Brown and others without the disorder, ADHD medications increase dopamine levels in the brain, giving the user a sense of euphoria similar to cocaine. Students at Northeastern University as well as other campuses are consuming these drugs for better academic performance and a cheap high on the college party scene. Students are taking Ritalin, Addrall, and the newest drug on the market, Conserta, either orally or crushing and snorting them to study, party, or lose weight. In some cases, kids are melting them down and shooting them up. According to Northeastern students, the drugs are very cheap and very accessible.
Amphetamines produce feelings of euphoria, relieve fatigue, improve performance, increase activity, and suppress appetite. Euphoric effects associated with the use of amphetamines, increase potential for abuse. Consequently, prolonged use of amphetamines may lead to drug dependence and tolerance. Desired effects are only achieved by increasing to higher doses of amphetamine, which can result in an acute overdose. Seizures, hypertension, tachycardia, hyperthermia, psychosis, hallucinations, stroke, or death can be experienced. Additional reports revealed that those who abuse amphetamines were significantly more likely to report using a greater number of illicit substances including nicotine, marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogens, and opiates.
My brother deserves to die. My grandmother should have died sooner than she did. My brother is autistic, cannot speak, and cannot even completely dress himself-he makes no visible contribution to society-therefore he should not be allowed to live. My grandmother had Alzheimer's disease, slipped into a coma after Valentine's Day, and was placed on a feeding tube until she finally passed on two days before my 16th birthday-but she should not have been allowed to waste my family's money and stay in the hospital for weeks. My family should have just let her die and get over with it.
In Utilitarianism, J.S. Mill gives an account for the reasons one must abide by the principles of Utilitarianism. Also referred to as the Greatest-happiness Principle, this doctrine promotes the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people. More specifically, Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism, holding that the right act is that which yields the greatest net utility, or "the total amount of pleasure minus the total amount of pain", for all individuals affected by said act (Joyce, lecture notes from 03/30).
Finals week remains a stressful time for college students. A student may have three to five tests in a matter of four days. However, these tests, unlike most, can be worth up to twenty percent of a semester grade. That is a great amount of pressure on a student. With about six hours of sleep a night, eighteen hours of study never seems like enough. Then again, there may be a solution that allows the student to focus on the study so eighteen hours is enough. Better yet, maybe sleep is unnecessary. This is a reality for the 6.4 percent of college students that use unprescribed Adderall. College students all over the country take Adderall everyday to improve performance in school.
According to Benedict Carey, taking pills to enhance performance in academia is flourishing. Throughout his argument he talks about how individuals are using pills such as Adderall or Provigil to help boost one’s abilities. In his perspective he sees taking stimulants as a horrendous problem within the academic field. The problem with his argument is he is not staying open minded; he stayed in a complete narrow mindset weakening his argument against pills being taken to improve academic success.
The most important question of all is what should one do since the ultimate purpose of answering questions is either to satisfy curiosity or to decide which action to take. Complicated analysis is often required to answer that question. Beyond ordinary analysis, one must also have a system of values, and the correct system of values is utilitarianism.
The first article is entitled “of mice but not men: problems of randomized clinical trials,” is written by Samuel Hellman and Deborah S. Hellman discusses the issues of randomized medical testing and experiments on patients. The article describes the role of the personal physician and how the physician can take an ethical or unethical path of treating his/her patients. The relationship between the patient and physician is greatly emphasized because according to the article trust is very valuable in medicine especially when a patient’s life is at risk. A Kantian and a Utilitarian view of randomized clinical trials are debated but the authors clearly steers towards a Kantian point of view.
There are many essays, papers and books written on the concept of right and wrong. Philosophers have theorized about moral actions for eons, one such philosopher is John Stuart Mill. In his book Utilitarianism he tries to improve on the theories of utilitarianism from previous philosophers, as he is a strong believer himself in the theory. In Mill's book he presents the ideology that there is another branch on the utilitarian tree. This branch being called rule-utilitarianism. Mill makes a distinction between two different types of utilitarianism; act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism. Rule-utilitarianism seems like a major advance over the simple theory of act-utilitarianism. But for all its added complexity, it may not actually be a significant improvement. This is proven when looking at the flaws in act-utilitarianism and relating them to the ways in which rule-utilitarianism tries to overcome them. As well one must look at the obstacles that rule-utilitarianism has on it's own as a theory. The problems of both act and rule utilitarianism consist of being too permissive and being able to justify any crime, not being able to predict the outcomes of one's actions, non-universality and the lose of freewill.
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory proposed by Jeremy Bentham and defended by James Mill. The theory says, that all the activities should be directed towards the accomplishment of the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Utilitarianism is impractical and very unrealistic because, it refuses to focus on the individuals values, morals, and happiness. Utilitarianism endorse risking ones life for the sake of other is not and in fact it rewards such behavior. Utilitarianism mentions that if the outcome of the one persons death saves many lives then therefore it is obligated to do so.
An ethical dilemma is only examined in a situation which has the following conditions; the first condition takes place in a situation, when an individual has to make a decision on which course of action is best. The second condition is there must be more than one course of action to choose from. The third action is no matter what course of action is taken, certain ethical principles are conceded. In other terms, there is no perfect result. When defining what forms an ethical dilemma, it is important to make a division between ethics, morals, values, laws and policies.
There is right from wrong and it is wrong for student to do drugs unless prescribed by a doctor. It will benefit students’ lives by making right and smart choices. The goal of high school is to educate and prepare students for a successful future, but how can a students future be successful if they are doing drugs? Research and statistics have shown that drug use and dropout rates go hand in hand. The annual dropout rate in the United States is extremely high. One in seven students will drop out of high school before receiving their diploma and over thirty percent of these dropouts use drugs illegally. Many high schools around the nation...
Examples of amphetamines include adderall, benzidrine, and dexedrine. Students often abuse prescriptions of adderall as a study tool. I’ve known students at my previous school in Miami take adderall during every exam when they weren’t even prescribed it which is a perfect example of amphetamine abuse. I’ve even heard about students becoming addicted to such drugs.