Almore Cato, II

Professor Farmer
Moral Theology
12/2/14
Final Exam
1. In reference to the eight "fundamental and constant aspects or dimensions of the human
person" outlined by Louis Janssens (in Artificial Insemination: Ethical Considerations, pp. 317) explain and demonstrate how aspects numbers four, five, seven and eight are significant
and crucial in the Case Study, "Oil and the Caribou People."
In the case study Oil and the Caribou People, we see a sad, yet common problem arise between
the native inhabitants of the land & modern industrialism takeover. The oil companies want to extend
the oil drilling into an area that threatens the citizens biggest source of food, a herd of Caribou. At first
view it may seem as if the problem is easily solvable by utilizing the abundance of food being
imported. The citizens of Caribou, as well as Ron soon see that the problem is not as simple as it
seems. The problem rest on three different issues: social integrity, nature integrity, and North
Americans extreme energy consumption.
Integrity determines the character; the moral principles. The extreme consumption of energy by
North Americans, as well as their outlook on the Caribou people can be placed under personal integrity.
With personal integrity, social integrity and nature integrity as main issues, we can use this as guides on
evaluating what effect the oil drilling will have on the wholeness and state of the city. In her essay
Fundamental and constant aspects or dimensions of the human person, Louis Janssens outlines eight
aspects of humans. For the purpose of this case study, we will only look at her fourth, fifth, seventh,
and eight aspect.
The fourth aspect of the human that Janssen discusses is that human beings are directed towards
each other. What this means is: Morally & socially, humans develop themselves to their full potential
because of their interactions with other people. The I-thou relationship is amongst the strongest in
terms of personal development. In terms of the case study, this pays a role for both the Caribou people
& the Oil drillers because it is a clear warning to not be stuck in one's own mindset. Taking this even

further, in the fifth aspect, Janssen furthers her claim on the sociality of humans, saying that people
need to live in appropriated structures and institutions. To her, Ethics demands that we respect laws
and other institutions in social living, insofar as they are in service to the common good (7). Modern
society is beginning to play a role in the Caribou society, and this is causing a lot of concern in the
community because they are losing their ancestor culture. A prime example that was given is the fact
that many of the children do not even speak the native tongue anymore; this hurts the personal integrity
of the people because they see their original culture being replaced with another culture. This cultural
imperialism scares them to the point where they do not see any outside cultural additions as servicing
the common good. To turn this around, we see the North Americans need for oil overshadowing the fact
that the Caribou society is holding on for dear life to preserve their culture. To the North Americans,
they see the money and new technology as servicing the common good of the community much more
than the presence of their original tongue.
The superiority and inferiority complex that arises from the collision of different cultures arises
a lot throughout history. It is easy for one to make the assumption that their belief holds value over
another; in her eighth aspect, Janssen addresses this by stating: All human persons are fundamentally
equal, but at the same time each is an originality. This is an important concept to grasp in relation to
properly evaluating the affect of oil drilling. Both sides seem to not want to budge on what they feel is
the best option, and this is an issue of them seeing each other as issues. For the oil drilling companies,
this aims to kill their claims that native americans are noble savages or that native americans need the
influence of the western society in order to survive. Everyone is entitled to their own original
interpretation and execution of a situation, yet at the same time they are held to the same fundamental
moral obligations; this fundamental obligation respects all cultures and is the basis for universal
morals. By working on this plane, the two societal views should be able to meet in order to reach a
fuller potential.
The thing about society is that it is constantly in a changing, developing state. The seventh

aspect that Janssen presents is that the human person is a historical being. There is historicity in
everything; history itself testifies to so many mistakes which man later had to admit or ignore because
he had too quickly condemned what was new without allowing for the experience, the time or the
opportunity to work out whether or not something was worthy of man (12). Imagine life as a timeline,
where each stage is a further development of the previous & stepping stone for the next. This provides
one with an outlook that is way less restricted; it allows one to be open to the transmission of life. This
relates to the Caribou people because they must be able to deal with this transition that is going on in a
way that will not restrict the possible good developments that will happen in the society. This does not
mean,however, that they should ignore the efforts to preserve their cultural integrity. In recognizing the
historicity and utilizing it to their best potential, they should be able to make a decision that will be able
to keep their cultural integrity while enjoying the help from modern advances .

2. From the article "Narrative and the Social Dynamics of Virtue," by Anne Patrick, explain and
demonstrate how one would approach the significant moral issues in the Case Study, "Keeping the
Doors Open," from the patriarchal paradigm and how one would approach those same issues from the
egalitarian paradigm.
In the case study, Keeping the Doors Open, the reader is faced with the issue of health care.
Since the recession, affordable health care has been on the decline due to the loss of insurance as well
as the inflation of private and public health services. The problems that arise from this are not only
affecting the people who cannot afford health care, but the people who provide them.The question to
face is: How can they go about providing quality health care for everyone, even the people who cannot
afford it, while still paying the providers of this service a reasonable amount?
Anne Patrick introduces the patriarchal paradigm and the egalitarian paradigm in her essay
Narrative and the Social Dynamics of Virtue as competing ideologies for christian virtue. These
paradigms describe how one behave, what one's moral standards should be. Let's look at the definition
of patriarchy: a system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family

and decent is traced through the male line. Take that and extend it to the patriarchal paradigm and we
see the immediate connection between the definition that Patrick gives it; a patriarchal paradigm
understand virtue to involve the control of passion by reason and the subordination of earthly
values to supernatural ones. It articulates many ideals for character, but tends to assume that these are
appropriately assigned greater emphasis according to ones gender and social status (72). If one were
to use a patriarchal paradigm to look at the moral issues that the hospital is faced with in the case study,
it would function as a way to preserve the already failing system. Although the virtues of this paradigm
are built on charity and justice, the hierarchy that this system uses can create contradiction and
inequality; this paradigm can be used to preserve the failing hospital system to a degree because of the
domination that is promoted. The main issue in the case study is how everyone can equally play a roll
in climbing out the whole, but the fundamental idea behind the patriarchal paradigm would not promote
an equal roll because of the hierarchical structure. When using this system, it is easily foreseeable that
the hospital system would put the top ranked people (employees & patients) over the lower ranked
(employees & patients). This would cause immediate anger from the lower ranked workers whom
should be treated just as important as the higher ranking. At the end of the day, this would not respect
everyone's individual human dignity.
Looking at the hospital crisis from an egalitarian paradigm may prove to be fairer in terms of
health care as a public good. In an egalitarian paradigm, rather than understanding power as control
over, this paradigm operates with a sense of power as the energy of proper relatedness. Ideals of love
and justice are not segregated into separate spheres of personal and social ethics (73). When reading
the case study, it seems like the main issue that they faced was how to be fair and provide health care as
a public good; transitioning from a profit based health care into a care based health care. The basis for
egalitarian paradigm is equality and this can be relatedness to what jesus would do. Jesus would not
turn away anybody because they could not afford it, he would make sure that everyone received an
equal healing opportunity. This paradigm would help the hospital solve the issue by placing the burden

that the hospital is going through on everyone, and not just on the lower people in a patriarchal
paradigm. This creates a wider access for health care because now everyone is equally working towards
the same goal of supporting the dignity of each human person.