Patents, pills, poverty and pandemic: the ethical issues

Brown, Walter

Title: Patents, pills, poverty and pandemic: the ethical issues
Creator: Brown, Walter
Subject: Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804 -- Ethics
Subject: AIDS (Disease) -- Treatment -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
Subject: AIDS (Disease) -- Moral and ethical aspects
Subject: HIV infections -- South Africa
Subject: HIV infections -- Treatment -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
Subject: Social responsibility of business
Subject: Pharmaceutical industry -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
Date Issued: 2003
Date: 2003
Type: Thesis
Type: Masters
Type: MA
Identifier: vital:2705
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002835
Identifier: Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804 -- Ethics
Identifier: AIDS (Disease) -- Treatment -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
Identifier: AIDS (Disease) -- Moral and ethical aspects
Identifier: HIV infections -- South Africa
Identifier: HIV infections -- Treatment -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
Identifier: Social responsibility of business
Identifier: Pharmaceutical industry -- South Africa -- Moral and ethical aspects
Description: This thesis argues that corporations qua corporations are moral agents sui generis and hence capable of being held morally responsible. I argue that corporations qua corporations are responsible for the actual and foreseen consequences of their actions. I analyse normative theories and the different proscriptive responsibilities they place on moral agents and hence corporations. I examine Kantianism, utilitarianism and virtue ethics. I argue for a unique normative ethical theory that incorporates reasoning from all three of the normative theories. I argue for a broad range of reasons to factor into deciding whether an act is ethical or not. One of the claims of this thesis is that ethical theories must incorporate an agent’s motivation, intention and character traits as relevant to deciding on whether an action is ethical or not. My thesis argues for an indispensable role for the virtues while at the same time incorporating impartial beneficence and universal rationality from utilitarianism and Kantianism. This position I, following the literature, refer to as moderate virtue theory. Having established corporate qua corporate responsibility I question the pharmaceutical corporation’s practice of patenting life saving medication during a state of pandemic in poor countries. The moderate virtue theory position prioritises contexts and the actual human condition and criticises normative theories that attempt to give universal, abstracted answers to ethical problems. It is for this reason and the current (2003) HIV/AIDS pandemic that I focus on a particular context. I examine the practice of patenting life saving medication within South Africa and argue, applying moderate virtue theory, that this act cannot be justified. I argue that a pharmaceutical corporation that patents life saving medication in South Africa cannot justify that action and thus is morally responsible for that action. I also argue that corporations patenting HIV/AIDS medication in South Africa have unethical motivations and intentions.
Format: 122 leaves
Format: pdf
Publisher: Rhodes University
Publisher: Faculty of Humanities, Philosophy
Language: English
Rights: Brown, Walter

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