Notes on Mizzoni on Natural Law Ethics
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• Doctor, and mother of three, pregnant with her fourth child, Gianna Molla was diagnosed with uterine cancer.
• She had two options to save her life. Have an abortion, facilitating the removal of the tumor, or have a hysterectomy to remove the tumor.
• Both options would result in killing the fetus.
• Gianna decided to choose neither option to save her baby.
• She died one week after the baby was born.
• Natural law ethics would consider abortion unethical as it directly kills the baby. A hysterectomy would be morally allowable to save the mother’s life, even though the end result would still be the death of the baby.
• This illustrates …show more content…
Specifically, promoting procreation and avoiding actions to negate the natural inclination toward sexual reproduction.
• We are naturally inclined toward sociability. Natural law ethics state that we should be social and get along with others.
• We have a natural disposition for knowledge and truth. If we do not allow ourselves to pursue knowledge and wisdom and truth, we are not living up to our responsibility to ourselves.
Notes on The Bhagavad-Gita: Chapter 1: Of the Distress of Arjuna
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• The first chapter lays out the historical context of a conflict between Arjuna’s army and another army with a list of names of those fighting on both sides of the battle.
• Arjuna praises his warriors.
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• The trumpet sounded and great sounds and shouts went forth signaling the beginning of the battle.
• Someone spoke to Krishna, asking him to get closer to the enemy to see who is on the other side.
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• Once close enough, Arjuna sees that the other army consists of some of his kin and friends.
• He is distressed to have to fight against them.
• He has no desire to fight if it means killing his family.
Notes on The Bhagavad-Gita: Chapter 2: Of Doctrines
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• Krishna addresses Arjuna, calling him weak and lacking