Sister’s Keeper guide questions:

My Sister's Keeper explores the ethics of asking one child to sacrifice for the health of another
through the concept of a savior sibling. Anna is conceived as a savior sibling for her older sister,
Kate, but ends up challenging her fate in court when Anna is asked to donate a kidney.
From the ethics of the right of terminally ill patients to choose to die. From the ethics of a
minor’s right to control her own body

1. Identify what is the idea of the good life presented in this film?

Sara demands a lot of Anna's body parts at the start of the film and ignores Kate's wish, which
creates inequality. However, in the end, the family accepted Kate's decision and did what was
best for both Anna and Kate, which I believe represents the idea of a good life in the film in
which no one feels neglected or hurt. Everyone will be living their life happily and freely. They
were able to find a moral balance between the extremes of the situation, which is why Kate dies
peacefully and Anna is medically emancipated, allowing her to fulfill her sister's goal. Their
family then lives a life that satisfies and fulfills them, spending a part of their time on activities
that benefit them, such as engagement with family and friends, as well as work and careers.

2. Identify what are the means to the good life employed?

In the film, love, sacrifice, and strong relationships are the means by which the good life is
achieved. "Love" because it explores what a family can do for their loved ones, and "sacrifice and
strong relationships" because it is to make decisions based on one another rather than oneself,
even if that means dying. In the end, what they did was for the best.

3. Was the action of the parents to achieve a good life ethical or not? Why?

In my opinion, in the beginning of the film, the action of the parents to achieve a good life was
not ethical because the mother, Sara, believed it was important to keep Kate alive, even if it
meant continuing to take parts from Anna to provide the most benefit for Kate while risking
Anna’s health, which threaten her survival and therefore violates her right to life.

So throughout the film, Anna has to fight for medical emancipation in the courtroom because of
her parents' lack of equality. Their judgment was clouded by their concern for their oldest
daughter; they shifted their focus solely to Kate while Anna and Jesse struggled alone, which
therefore led to biased decisions. Anna’s future is jeopardized by her duty to donate body parts
to her sister. But as we go further with the movie, the parents learn to accept and fulfill Kate's
wish and therefore their action to achieve a good life is now ethical.
This unequal treatment resulted from a conflict of interest between the parents. [The parents
abused the process of genetic diagnosis by conceiving a child whose sole purpose is to be a
donor, devaluing and risking the quality of that child's life.]
Guide questions for the graded recitation for Wednesday:
1. Using a concrete situation, distinguish the scope of ethics from the scope of morality.

When we are talking about our aim of living a good life and fulfilling an accomplished life, we are
talking about ethics. For example, a police officer is really committed to his profession and
always fulfills the duty imposed by law by serving the community and protecting all people
because it brings him happiness. He finds happiness in it. So, happiness is the good life.
According to aristotle, we do not have any other aim than happiness, and ethics discusses that
aim of happiness. With this, happiness is the ultimate end and the goal of everything we do.

On the other hand, morality is concerned with the rules of good behavior or the condition that
determines whether an action is right or wrong, for example, a thief stole a backpack that
contained hundreds of thousands of dollars. So they find happiness in that immoral act because
if they steal, they can have something to provide for or offer to their family, and that makes them
happy. However, his action is precisely wrong because it violates a universal standard or
morality, a universal scale evaluating what makes an action right or wrong. So morality is the set
of moral norms that we should adhere to in order to live and achieve our goals.

2. Why is the aim of the life always involves deliberation? How does deliberation achieve
prudence?
So aiming for the good life involves deliberation because it is about the choice of the most
appropriate means, and we know that our aim is nothing other than the good life. So if you have
a goal in mind, you may now have a question: What do you think is the best way to achieve that
goal? And so, deliberation comes in. We are thinking; we are deliberating on how and by what
means we can achieve the end. A happy life that is a good life.

Prudence is achieved through good deliberation in order to reach good conclusions in moral
action. If you rush into the things you are going to do, you are not prudent. Kapag padalos dalos
tayo, hindi tayo prudent. However, if we deliberate carefully, we may find a balance between
what is excessive and what is insufficient.

3. Ethics always involves interpretation and revision. What does it say about nature as human
beings?

As individuals, we begin with our initial choices, and we choose those choices because that is
what we think is best for us. But as we go further in life, we realize that those initial choices do
not bring us a happy life or a good life, and that is where interpretation and revision come in. So
it is possible that our initial choice can be mistaken, and that speaks about our nature as human
beings. We are valuable and we can make mistakes, and we do not know everything. But Ricoeur
says, "by all means, revise." We can always revise our choices. Our responsibilities in our initial
choice do not hinder us from creating a new choice in order that we can truly live a good life.
CASE 1: Lloyd, The Future Engineer
Lloyd sends his application to the College of Engineering for his university course. Luckily, he
got accepted but failed to secure a scholarship slot. This is a dream come true! Nevertheless,
his parents were very supportive of him, and assured him that they have the means to send him
to the university. Lloyd was inspired by the dedication of his parents and, in return, he promised
them that he will do everything to be a good student. Indeed, he was a performing well both in
his academics and extracurricular activities. However, Covid19 happened and Lloyd’s father lost
his job abroad. Two years after the height of the pandemic, his father was still struggling to find
a good paying job. Although his father is now locally employed, his income is no longer as good
as before. The university also announced that there were will tuition and other fees increases in
the following year. Lloyd is already in the second year. Another two years in the university could
mean more financial burden to his family.

Case 1:
In this case, discuss:
A. How does ethics as an aim for the good life involve deliberation?
B. If Lloyd is aiming at prudence, what are the factors and situations that must be included in
his deliberation?
C. What possible revisions can Lloyd undertake without sacrificing his aim?