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MODULE 4: CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES TO HUMAN DIGNITY

Activities in this module are linked with face to face tutorials 8, 9 and 10.

In this module, we will be working towards the achievement of:

Learning Outcome 1: demonstrate a reflective, critical awareness of personal identity and values; and

Learning Outcome 3: investigate and evaluate a topic or issue in which the dignity of the human person is a critical factor; and

Learning Outcome 4: identify and assess how commitment to the dignity of the human person may be part of his or her personal and professional understanding and practice now and in the future; and

Graduate Attribute 1: demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity (which you will do through the content of the module);

Graduate Attribute 4: think critically and reflectively (which you will do through the skills processes involved in completing the activities);

Graduate Attribute 7: work autonomously and collaboratively (which you will do through the skills processes involved in completing the activities); and

Graduate Attribute 8: locate, organize, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information (which you will do through the skills processes involved in completing the activities).

Warning

Topics considered in UNCC LEO materials and in class discussions may be disturbing for some students.

If you are affected, please contact your Campus Leader and or the University Counselling Service (see http://students.acu.edu.au/371879).

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4.1 Contemporary challenges: Case studies

There are two case studies provided in this module to help you apply the knowledge you have learned in the unit. While you will choose one to focus on for your assessment task, you will need to work through both at this stage for your tutorial preparation and in-class tests.

As you read each case study, consider the following questions (these have been developed from the questions for assessment task 2):

1. Why do you think human dignity is a critical factor in this case? 2. What are the various perspectives in play and who holds these perspectives?

a. What understanding of human dignity appears to be at work in each perspective?

b. Which quadrant or quadrants best reflect the understanding of human dignity in each perspective?

c. What are some of the social attitudes, mores, or circumstances that might have led to the different perspectives in this case?

d. What role do you think the social attitudes, mores and circumstances play in the justification of each perspective?

3. When considering human dignity as multidimensional, what aspects of human dignity could be jeopardised by actions arising out of the perspectives described above?

Bring your answers to these questions with you to the tutorials in weeks 8 and 9. Please note: When preparing for your assessment task, be sure to check the unit outline for the full assessment questions and criteria.

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Links to the Case Studies

Complete the following material in order to prepare for tutorial 8. Remember that you will be tested on it in that tutorial.

4.1.1 Case Study 1: Human Dignity and Forced Adoption

Our first case study examines an issue which was widely practiced in Australia in the 1960s, 70s and 80s: that of the forcible removal for adoption of children born to young women often out of wedlock. This action often left women struggling emotionally for many years and deprived them of the opportunity to raise their children to adulthood. Evidence suggests that this has severely impacted their own sense of dignity.

Case Study 1

Image: Author: Heinz Albers, Baby Franka, 2003, Used under CCASA Licence.

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baby_Franka.jpg

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Complete the following material in order to prepare for tutorial 9. Remember that you will be tested on it in that tutorial.

4.1.2 Case Study 2: Human Dignity and Universal Health Care The idea that everyone has a right to health care or medical treatment has grown strongly since the end of World War II. The duty to provide this health care has fallen largely to the Government. Nonetheless, the idea of universal publicly-funded health care does not have universal support. There are some who argue against it. There are increasing pressures to privatise health care, raising questions about whether this can really achieve the goal of universal health care, or a right to health for everyone.

Case Study 2

Image: US Navy; medical procedure. 2012. Public Domain. Source:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flickr_-_ Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_

_A_Navy_officer_gives_an_Indonesian_women_ pain_medications_during_surgery..jpg

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4.2 Personal and professional challenges

Complete the following material in order to prepare for tutorial 10. The test in this week will be a short answer test in which you are required to

apply your learning to particular personal and professional challenges.

Much of the material in these final stages of the unit requires you to think reflectively. Go to the resources for <Graduate Attribute 4> and download the “Thinking Reflectively” tools. Work through them to develop your skills

As we note in those resources, in reflective thinking, we look at the whole picture with its network of relationships (informational, the natural world and human):

• You and your biases/perspectives • The content, the skills • Other colleagues, and their biases and assumptions • Your context, the specific job, and client/ customer/ patient/ student • What actually happened in this mix? • Are/were you satisfied with the outcome of an event/situation?

When you undertake the activities that focus on personal and professional challenges, try to keep in mind that it is the capacity to undertake reflective thinking that is being developed. Try to avoid the mindset that reflective thinking is not for practical people who live in the “real” world. Developing a sophisticated capacity for reflective thinking is actually crucial to your future success: in your personal and professional relationships, in the daily activities undertaken in the course of your employment, and in your wider engagement with society.

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4.2.1 Human Dignity in the ACU Mission

ACTIVITY 4.2.1

In UNCC100, students were asked to consider the ACU Mission statement in light of the common good. Here, we ask you to read the statement and analyse the way in which human dignity is presented, understood and embodied in the mission of ACU.

Consider the following questions and make a note of your responses:

1. What understanding of human dignity might be seen to underpin the mission of ACU?

2. What social influences, traditions, and mores have led to ACU arriving at such an articulation of human dignity?

3. How does this understanding of human dignity affect the engagement of the institution with broader society, and the programs it sponsors?

To help you answer this third question, follow the links provided here:

The Core – The Strengths of Clemente

The Core – Building Capacities in Baucau

The Core – Emancipation and Empowerment

The Core – Soccer Game that’s Streets Ahead

In what ways do these programs embody a respect for human dignity and promote the dignity of all human beings?

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4.2.2 Human Dignity in Professional Practice

As you have seen throughout this unit, the idea of human dignity has relevance in a number of contexts and disciplines. The following videos explore the importance of respecting human dignity in various fields.

Mr. Duncan MacLaren, Lecturer in and Coordinator of the ACU Refugee program on the Thai-Burma border, discusses the importance of respecting human dignity in the context of working in international aid and development.

Ms Cynthia Dowell, Executive Director of Surgical and Specialist services and Chief Nursing Officer, St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, discusses the importance of human dignity in the nursing profession.

Mr. Martin Nally, Managing Director, hranywhere, discusses the values which are prized by employers in the business community and among large corporations.

Professor Michelle Campbell, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences here at ACU, stresses the importance of human dignity in all occupations in the health sector.

ACTIVITY 4.2.2

After watching the videos linked above, think about your chosen profession (or a profession in which you would like to be engaged) and note your responses to the following questions:

1. What understanding of human dignity underpins professional practice in that chosen field? Are there contested understandings of human dignity by professionals in that field?

2. What social influences, traditions, and mores have led to such an articulation of human dignity in that field? What difference might being a graduate of Australian Catholic University make when considering those social influences, traditions, and mores?

3. How does the understanding of human dignity by professionals in that field affect the moral behaviour of those working in the field?

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4.2.3 Your Personal Understanding of Human Dignity

Throughout this unit, you have been asked to analyse in depth the use of the term, “human dignity.” We have seen that there are a number of bases for understanding human dignity, and that there can be conflict between them. This may lead to an impasse when considering ethical issues. It has been argued in this unit that only a robust understanding of human dignity—one that is multi-dimensional, in the same way that humans are multi-dimensional—is adequate to enable us to face ethical issues in a way that is not reductive.

ACTIVITY 4.2.3

Print the two PDF sheets: My Personal Approach to Human Dignity (Before) and My Personal Approach to Human Dignity (After)

1. Before you began this unit, what was your own understanding of human dignity?

a. Which quadrant/s do you think best represents this understanding? Using the “My Personal Approach to Human Dignity (Before)” sheet, shade the relevant quadrant and explain why your understanding fitted there. Note: you may find that your understanding fits mostly within one quadrant, but touches on areas of the others. Try to represent this in the diagram.

b. What social influences, traditions and/or mores, do you think led you to arrive at this understanding of human dignity?

c. What problems, if any, can you now recognise in terms of your understanding of human dignity at the beginning of this unit? How does this understanding fit with that which is espoused in your chosen (or desired) profession?

2. Has your understanding of human dignity changed as a result of this unit? In what way?

a. Using the “My Personal Approach to Human Dignity (After)” sheet, shade the quadrant/s that best represent your new understanding of human dignity and explain why your understanding fits there. Note: you may find that your understanding fits mostly within one quadrant, but touches on areas of the others. Try to represent this in the diagram. (See the diagram below as an example).

Example

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3. Consider, again, the social influences, traditions, and mores that led to your understanding of human dignity at the beginning of the unit. Do you think these influences need to be called into question, in light of an understanding of human dignity as multidimensional? Do these social influences, traditions, mores, promote human life and flourishing, or do they debase human life and human dignity, thus defined?

4. How does your new understanding of human dignity relate to that of your chosen profession? How do you think this new understanding will assist you, or challenge you further in your future professional practice?

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4.2.4 Applying your personal understanding of human dignity

Note: This activity will be useful practice for your week 10 short answer test.

Now that you have articulated your understandings of human dignity, consider how you would apply this to a range of scenarios. This activity is designed to help you to do just that. As you work through each of the scenarios, consider the following questions: a. How might a person respond if they approached the issue from an understanding of human

dignity based in only one quadrant each time? b. Now try to articulate a response for each case, which recognises the multidimensionality of

human dignity. c. Now think about your own understanding of human dignity, as discussed above, in

Activity 4.2.3: i. How might the scenario have posed a challenge to your understanding of human

dignity prior to undertaking this unit? ii. Do you believe your own understanding of human dignity has shifted as a result

of this unit? If so, how might your new understanding of human dignity better equip you to face this challenge?

ACTIVITY 4.2.4

A personal challenge (all students to complete):

Channel 7’s Today Tonight ran a story on Nov 16, 2011 that reported the indifference of Australian people towards those in need. As you watch the video, consider whether an understanding of human dignity is evident in the actions of the people that the celebrities encounter.

1. How might a person respond if they approached the issue from an understanding of human dignity based singularly in each of the quadrants?

2. Try to articulate a response for each case, which recognises the multidimensionality of human dignity.

3. Then, think about your own understanding of human dignity, as discussed above, in Activity 4.2.3:

• How might the scenario have posed a challenge to your understanding of human dignity prior to undertaking this unit?

• Do you believe your own understanding of human dignity has shifted as a result of this unit? If so, how might your new understanding of human dignity better equip you to face the personal and professional challenges that may arise?

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A professional challenge (select one of interest from the links below):

1. International Development

2. Nursing

3. Law

4. Midwifery

5. Education

6. Paramedicine

7. Exercise Science

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1. International Development

Imagine that you have been offered a job with an International Development Agency. It is your dream job, one that you have coveted for a long time, but it comes with a caveat: you are required to help promote Child Sponsorship programs. You do not agree with such programs, as you do not believe it is the best way to provide aid to developing countries.

For information on the arguments against child sponsorship, see the following links:

“One Child at a Time.” New Internationalist, June 1985.

“Can we end poverty?” Caritas Australia.

“Sponsor a Child? Maybe Not” Caritas Australia.

1. Focus on the recipients of the aid and consider their human dignity. Analyse their situation from the perspective of each of the human dignity quadrants. How might persons respond if approaching the issue from an understanding of human dignity based on only one quadrant each time?

2. Now try to articulate a response to each of these views, which recognises the multidimensionality of human dignity. (To help you with this, you may wish to refer to Activity 3.2.3).

3. Now think about your own understanding of human dignity, as discussed above, in Activity 4.2.3:

• How might this scenario have posed a challenge to your understanding of human dignity prior to undertaking this unit?

• Do you believe your own understanding of human dignity has shifted as a result of this unit? If so, how might your new understanding of human dignity better equip you to face this challenge?

2. Nursing

You are a 1st year nurse, working in your dream hospital. You have settled in really well, enjoying your connections with the patients and their families, and at the same time, enjoying the challenges you encounter. Then you are given your caseload for the day. A man who has been convicted of the rape and murder of a young woman—which was widely publicised in the media at the time—has self-harmed in prison and has been admitted to your ward under heavy guard. You have been asked to assist with dressing his wounds daily and to be responsible for his ongoing care until he is discharged back to prison, where he is serving a life-sentence.

1. Focus on the patient and consider his human dignity. Analyse his situation from the

perspective of each of the human dignity quadrants. How might persons respond to him if approaching the issue from an understanding of human dignity based on only one quadrant each time?

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2. Now try to articulate a response to each of these views, which recognises the multidimensionality of human dignity. (To help you with this, you may wish to refer to Activity 3.2.3).

3. Now think about your own understanding of human dignity, as discussed above, in Activity 4.2.3:

• How might this scenario have posed a challenge to your understanding of human dignity prior to undertaking this unit?

• Do you believe your own understanding of human dignity has shifted as a result of this unit? If so, how might your new understanding of human dignity better equip you to face this challenge?

3. Law

You have been working as a lawyer for quite some time and have landed a job at a very prestigious firm, with many avenues for career advancement. The firm has agreed to defend a man accused of the rape and murder of a young woman—which has been widely publicised in the media, and has elicited strong public response. There is very strong evidence to suggest that this man is guilty of the crime of which he is accused. You have been asked to assist with the development of his case and to lead his defence in court.

1. Focus on the accused man and consider his human dignity. Analyse his situation from the

perspective of each of the human dignity quadrants. How might persons respond to him if approaching the issue from an understanding of human dignity based on only one quadrant each time?

2. Now try to articulate a response to each of these views, which recognises the multidimensionality of human dignity. (To help you with this, you may wish to refer to Activity 3.2.3).

3. Now think about your own understanding of human dignity, as discussed above, in Activity 4.2.3: • How might this scenario have posed a challenge to your understanding of human

dignity prior to undertaking this unit? • Do you believe your own understanding of human dignity has shifted as a result of this

unit? If so, how might your new understanding of human dignity better equip you to face this challenge?

4. Midwifery

You are a junior midwife, and working in a busy public hospital. You are enjoying the interactions with the patients and their families, and you count yourself lucky to be able to bring beautiful babies into the world each day. On your patient list for the day is the induction of a woman who is giving birth to her seventh child. Your colleague tells you

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that this woman is living on welfare and is relying on family assistance from the government.

1. Focus on the patient and consider her human dignity. Analyse her situation from the perspective of each of the human dignity quadrants. How might persons respond to her if approaching the issue from an understanding of human dignity based on only one quadrant each time?

2. Now try to articulate a response to each of these views, which recognises the multidimensionality of human dignity. (To help you with this, you may wish to refer to Activity 3.2.3).

3. Now think about your own understanding of human dignity, as discussed above, in Activity 4.2.3:

• How might this scenario have posed a challenge to your understanding of human dignity prior to undertaking this unit?

• Do you believe your own understanding of human dignity has shifted as a result of this unit? If so, how might your new understanding of human dignity better equip you to face this challenge?

5. Education

You are working as a first-year teacher and have been given a very rowdy class of year 8 boys. One boy, in particular, is known for his violent behaviour, and has been suspended many times by the principal. Your colleagues have warned you that this boy will disrupt your class, but the welfare coordinator tells you that there is more to the story. This boy is the youngest of five children, to a single mum. She is busy working two jobs to make ends meet, and unfortunately, the boy in question is often left to his own devices at home. In your first lesson with him, you ask him to move to the front of the class because he does not appear to be listening and is disrupting the boys around him. He picks up his chair and carries it at eye-level down the aisle, knocking a number of other boys in the head as he goes.

1. Focus on the boy in this scenario and consider his human dignity. Analyse his situation from the perspective of each of the human dignity quadrants. How might persons respond to him if approaching the issue from an understanding of human dignity based on only one quadrant each time?

2. Now try to articulate a response to each of these views, which recognises the multidimensionality of human dignity. (To help you with this, you may wish to refer to Activity 3.2.3).

3. Now think about your own understanding of human dignity, as discussed above, in Activity 4.2.3:

• How might this scenario have posed a challenge to your understanding of human dignity prior to undertaking this unit?

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• Do you believe your own understanding of human dignity has shifted as a result of this unit? If so, how might your new understanding of human dignity better equip you to face this challenge?

6. Paramedicine

You have been working as a paramedic in the inner city for a number of years. In the early hours of the morning you are called to assist a drug overdose victim down a secluded laneway. On arrival, you see that the victim is well known to you. You have been called to treat him for overdose on nine separate occasions. Each time, he simply discharges himself from hospital the next morning and refuses any offer of ongoing treatment to help him overcome his habit.

1. Focus on the patient and consider his human dignity. Analyse his situation from the perspective of each of the human dignity quadrants. How might persons respond to him if approaching the issue from an understanding of human dignity based on only one quadrant each time?

2. Now try to articulate a response to each of these views, which recognises the multidimensionality of human dignity. (To help you with this, you may wish to refer to Activity 3.2.3).

3. Now think about your own understanding of human dignity, as discussed above, in Activity 4.2.3:

• How might this scenario have posed a challenge to your understanding of human dignity prior to undertaking this unit?

• Do you believe your own understanding of human dignity has shifted as a result of this unit? If so, how might your new understanding of human dignity better equip you to face this challenge?

7. Exercise Science

You are starting out as a sports scientist, and you land your dream job—working under the highly-regarded senior sports scientist for an elite football club. Shortly after you begin work, a scandal erupts, and it is quickly broadcast all over the media. It seems that the senior sports scientist with whom you work has been experimenting with the use of banned substances to boost the performance of the players. In many cases, this seems to have been happening without the knowledge or consent of the players themselves, and without the guidance of the club doctor. You have been asked to fill in for him while an investigation takes place, and you have to manage the situation in a thoroughly professional manner. In your ongoing work, you are likely to have contact with the players themselves, their families, the team management, the media and the police.

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1. Focus on the role of the senior sports scientist and consider his human dignity. Analyse his situation from the perspective of each of the human dignity quadrants. How might persons respond to him if approaching the issue from an understanding of human dignity based on only one quadrant each time?

2. Now try to articulate a response to each of these views, which recognises the multidimensionality of human dignity. (To help you with this, you may wish to refer to Activity 3.2.3).

3. Now think about your own understanding of human dignity, as discussed above, in Activity 4.2.3:

• How might this scenario have posed a challenge to your understanding of human dignity prior to undertaking this unit?

• Do you believe your own understanding of human dignity has shifted as a result of this unit? If so, how might your new understanding of human dignity better equip you to face this challenge?

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4.3. ASSESSMENT TASK 2

The graduate attributes and assessment task 2: how do they work together?

At a number of points in this unit, you have been referred to the Australian Catholic University Graduate Attributes, and have been encouraged to use the resources provided to enhance your skills in particular areas. Several of these skills will be utilised—and some explicitly tested—in Assessment Task 2, along with learning outcome 3.

Graduate Attribute 1: demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity

It would be hard to imagine that you have come this far in UNCC300 without being required to consider what it means to demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual, and without being forced to recognise that human diversity requires that you take a variety of perspectives into account when thinking about human dignity.

As to whether you can demonstrate this respect—you can show, in the way that you write and express yourself more generally, whether or not you are taking the dignity of each individual and the fact of human diversity into account. No amount of formal learning can guarantee that you will be a person who respects dignity and diversity, but rehearsing these attitudes can help you to become someone who does. As the famous writer (and author of the Narnia stories for children), C.S. Lewis, observes: “very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already.”1

© Alexander Raths | Dreamstime.com

1 C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Glasgow: Collins, 1942; Fount Paperbacks, 1977), 158. References are to the Fount edition.

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Graduate Attribute 4: Think critically and reflectively

In the thinking critically resource for Graduate Attribute 4, you were invited to develop skills in “reading various types of material critically, so that you can assess its likely accuracy, reliability and possible biases.” Throughout the unit, you have been analysing different texts to try to uncover how various writers understand and argue for different concepts of human dignity. In Assessment Task 2, you will be using arguments from three key articles as the foundation of your project. How confident are you that you can read these articles critically (that is, with insight, not with antagonism!)? Return to the resources for Graduate Attribute 4 to check that you are able to assess “the reliability, accuracy and purpose of the articles.” Look closely at the rubric for Assessment Task 2: highlight those criteria that require you to show evidence of your capacity to think critically.

While Graduate Attribute 4 is also about thinking reflectively, we have rehearsed much of that type of thinking in the activities on personal and professional challenges.

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Graduate Attribute 7: Work autonomously and collaboratively

In the classroom activities for UNCC300, you have frequently (and quite deliberately) been required to work collaboratively to produce new information or understandings.

The other part of Graduate Attribute 7 is the capacity to work autonomously. This is being tested in the production of a project for Assessment Task 2.

You were introduced to the skills related to working autonomously in the resources for Graduate Attribute 7:

Able To Skill

complete work without supervision or guidance but maintain communication with your supervisor regarding progress;

set & keep to clear goals and timeline plans; be personally responsible for task completion;

manage personal work-time and multitask by moving between tasks to move forwards on all stages of tasks;

communicate with all stakeholders;

evaluate plans and tasks to ensure quality completion: reflect on your personal effectiveness and the progress of tasks;

be flexible to accommodate organisational changes, limitations or new stakeholder requirements;

problem solve

as part of evaluating your work to either rectify and/or modify; and

determine & leverage

organisational skills/specialised skill resources required for task/project completion, particularly when problem-solving requires skills you do not possess.

UNCC300 is usually undertaken by students towards the end of their courses, who are close to going out into the workforce. Your capacity to work autonomously in the production of your project will reflect:

• the sort of value you accord to your education; • the values you will uphold when you enter more fully the world of work; • the sort of person you are and aspire to be.

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Graduate Attribute 8: locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information

EVALUATE

ANALYSE AND

SYNTHESISE

LOCATE AND ORGANISE

UNDERSTAND

Assessment Task 2 is really testing your capacity to utilise the many sub-skills involved in Graduate Attribute 8.

• At the most basic levels, 1 and 2 from the above diagram, can you locate facts and arguments within the resources you have been given to use in the project? Can you track down further, appropriate materials that will help you to understand and interpret those resources?

• At level 3, can you analyse the arguments in the perspectives, and fully synthesise these in new contexts? Synthesis is a necessary prior process to being able to apply the evaluative questions of the next level.

• At the highest level, level 4, can you evaluate the arguments that various writers put forward? Are you able to recognise your own cultural, social, intellectual and affective biases, step back, and see the big picture? Can you critique the “the social influences, traditions, and mores” that lead to various understandings of human dignity?

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Preparing for Assessment Task 2: 1. Go to the unit outline for UNCC300. 2. Print out all the pages referring to Assessment Task 2, and put them up semi-

permanently in a place where you can refer to them easily while working on the task. 3. Go to the rubric for assessment task 2. 4. Print it out and display it close to the details of the task. 5. Ensure, before you begin work, that you have printed out the PDF of the case study, as

well as the three articles on which the case study is based. 6. Confirm with your faculty guidelines the referencing style that you will use for the

project. If you have Endnote, or another referencing system, set it to the style required. 7. If you have any basic clarifications to make about what you need to do, please check

with your tutor. 8. Complete the task, ensuring that you draw not only from the three articles but from

other appropriate resources, including: a. Resources to which you are referred in the articles themselves (remember

that it is a type of plagiarism to quote from articles that you have not read yourself, without acknowledging the context within which you have been referred to them—better to track down the originals)

b. Resources to which you are referred at the end of the case study. 9. Make sure that you leave yourself enough time (at least 3 days) to upload your project

early in Turnitin, so that you can benefit from multiple submissions (this gives you time to learn). Plagiarism is a very serious academic offence, and can be clearly exposed with the use of this software.

10. Remember to check the guidelines for applying for an Extension well ahead of time (or for Special Consideration as soon as possible after) in case something unavoidable happens!

11. Don’t forget to submit both in LEO and in hard copy by the due date (check the unit outline for details).

12. Don’t forget to submit a stamped ($1.20) self-addressed A4 sized envelope with your hard copy.