©THESTAR 2024/2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11:32AM. A+
Final Exam Study Guide for Bioethics @
Harvard 100% Verified.
Coercion - Answer✔Forcing a party into an adverse or unfair transaction by taking advantage of
that party's situation. Often this is forcing lower-income parties into adverse or unfair
transactions by taking advantage of their economic need — the parties have no reasonable
alternatives to the transactions in light of their financial situation
Consequentialist Corruption - Answer✔The degradation of a societal value that occurs when
our attitudes or sensibilities change in response to allowing a particular practice — for example,
a consequentialist corruption argument against prostitution or surrogacy might be that going
forward we would begin to regard each other as objects with prices rather than as persons.
Corruption - Answer✔The alteration or denigration of a societal conception or value. For
example, some argue that commoditizing organs has a corrupting influence by denigrating the
value or special significance society gives to human organs by treating them like a consumer
good.
Crowding Out - Answer✔The idea that allowing the sale of a good will decrease the supply of
the good in some way. In the context of organ selling, the most common crowding out concern
is that allowing organ sales will decrease the number of altruistically donated organs.
Eugenics - Answer✔The idea that certain genetic traits are more valuable than others, and
should be selective to improve the gene pool.
Ex Ante - Answer✔before the event
ex poste - Answer✔after the fact
Exploitation - Answer✔The act of unduly benefiting at the expense of another, often through
an unfair transaction. It comes in mutually beneficial and harmful varieties. For example, if A is
having an allergic reaction, and B has an EpiPen (a necessary, often life-saving treatment for
allergic reactions), it would be exploitation for B to sell the EpiPen to A for $1,000,000, because
B is benefiting by taking advantage of A's situation, forcing A into a transaction A would not
otherwise accept.
1
, ©THESTAR 2024/2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11:32AM. A+
Harmful Exploitation - Answer✔The act of unduly benefiting at the expense of another, often
through an unfair transaction, when the other party is worse off after the interaction.
Intrinsic Corruption - Answer✔Under this conception of corruption, an intervention is justified
when there is an inherent incompatibility between the object and the way we evaluate it;
meaning, the wrongfulness of an action is completed at the moment the action is, regardless of
the consequences.
Justified Paternalism - Answer✔The justified interference by the state or an individual in
another's decision making, generally justified by framing the intervention as protecting the
individual from making the wrong decision. For example, a law forbidding placing children up
for adoption on the grounds that the birth parents will later regret the decision could be
construed as justified paternalism.
Kaldor Hicks Efficiency - Answer✔When one party benefits from a change in the status quo, and
other parties that are potentially made worse off by that decision can be compensated to the
extent they've been made worse off in order to be made whole. The gains are larger than the
losses, but the distribution of winners and losers may change.
Mutually Advantageous Exploitation - Answer✔The act of unduly benefiting at the expense of
another, often through an unfair transaction, when the other party is not left worse off after
the interaction, but the benefits of the interaction were allocated unfairly to the exploiting
party.
Pareto Efficiency - Answer✔When one party benefits from a decision, but other parties are not
made worse off by that decision.
Selective Reduction - Answer✔The termination of excess pregnancies after IVF. Often done
when parents only want one or two children, but three or four embryos successfully implant
Undue Inducement: - Answer✔Proposing an offer that is "too good to refuse" — an offer that,
in light of the other party's situation, is so good that the other party's sense of autonomy is
undermined, because they feel substantial pressure to accept.
Unfair Distribution - Answer✔The unequal distribution of resources across society — often
involving the disproportionate allocation of resources towards the wealthy and away from
lower socioeconomic groups.
Anti-Contractualist - Answer✔Objections to surrogacy based on the validity of the contractual
arrangement. These objections are based on the premise that the contract is invalid for some
reason or another - for instance, that the surrogate lacked the ability to consent, or was
otherwise coerced into signing the contract.
2
Final Exam Study Guide for Bioethics @
Harvard 100% Verified.
Coercion - Answer✔Forcing a party into an adverse or unfair transaction by taking advantage of
that party's situation. Often this is forcing lower-income parties into adverse or unfair
transactions by taking advantage of their economic need — the parties have no reasonable
alternatives to the transactions in light of their financial situation
Consequentialist Corruption - Answer✔The degradation of a societal value that occurs when
our attitudes or sensibilities change in response to allowing a particular practice — for example,
a consequentialist corruption argument against prostitution or surrogacy might be that going
forward we would begin to regard each other as objects with prices rather than as persons.
Corruption - Answer✔The alteration or denigration of a societal conception or value. For
example, some argue that commoditizing organs has a corrupting influence by denigrating the
value or special significance society gives to human organs by treating them like a consumer
good.
Crowding Out - Answer✔The idea that allowing the sale of a good will decrease the supply of
the good in some way. In the context of organ selling, the most common crowding out concern
is that allowing organ sales will decrease the number of altruistically donated organs.
Eugenics - Answer✔The idea that certain genetic traits are more valuable than others, and
should be selective to improve the gene pool.
Ex Ante - Answer✔before the event
ex poste - Answer✔after the fact
Exploitation - Answer✔The act of unduly benefiting at the expense of another, often through
an unfair transaction. It comes in mutually beneficial and harmful varieties. For example, if A is
having an allergic reaction, and B has an EpiPen (a necessary, often life-saving treatment for
allergic reactions), it would be exploitation for B to sell the EpiPen to A for $1,000,000, because
B is benefiting by taking advantage of A's situation, forcing A into a transaction A would not
otherwise accept.
1
, ©THESTAR 2024/2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11:32AM. A+
Harmful Exploitation - Answer✔The act of unduly benefiting at the expense of another, often
through an unfair transaction, when the other party is worse off after the interaction.
Intrinsic Corruption - Answer✔Under this conception of corruption, an intervention is justified
when there is an inherent incompatibility between the object and the way we evaluate it;
meaning, the wrongfulness of an action is completed at the moment the action is, regardless of
the consequences.
Justified Paternalism - Answer✔The justified interference by the state or an individual in
another's decision making, generally justified by framing the intervention as protecting the
individual from making the wrong decision. For example, a law forbidding placing children up
for adoption on the grounds that the birth parents will later regret the decision could be
construed as justified paternalism.
Kaldor Hicks Efficiency - Answer✔When one party benefits from a change in the status quo, and
other parties that are potentially made worse off by that decision can be compensated to the
extent they've been made worse off in order to be made whole. The gains are larger than the
losses, but the distribution of winners and losers may change.
Mutually Advantageous Exploitation - Answer✔The act of unduly benefiting at the expense of
another, often through an unfair transaction, when the other party is not left worse off after
the interaction, but the benefits of the interaction were allocated unfairly to the exploiting
party.
Pareto Efficiency - Answer✔When one party benefits from a decision, but other parties are not
made worse off by that decision.
Selective Reduction - Answer✔The termination of excess pregnancies after IVF. Often done
when parents only want one or two children, but three or four embryos successfully implant
Undue Inducement: - Answer✔Proposing an offer that is "too good to refuse" — an offer that,
in light of the other party's situation, is so good that the other party's sense of autonomy is
undermined, because they feel substantial pressure to accept.
Unfair Distribution - Answer✔The unequal distribution of resources across society — often
involving the disproportionate allocation of resources towards the wealthy and away from
lower socioeconomic groups.
Anti-Contractualist - Answer✔Objections to surrogacy based on the validity of the contractual
arrangement. These objections are based on the premise that the contract is invalid for some
reason or another - for instance, that the surrogate lacked the ability to consent, or was
otherwise coerced into signing the contract.
2
