Ethical and Spiritual decision making in healthcare The Christian perspective of the nature of spirituality and ethics in contrast to the perspective of postmodern relativism within health care
Spirituality, from a Christian-based perspective, is the relationship that human beings have with a superior being from whom all love flows. The value that Christians place on the supreme being dictates their lives by ensuring that they live in a manner that is consistent with the demands of ultimate love. Spirituality does not necessarily give a name to the supreme being. However, Christian spirituality refers to God as the ultimate love. This reference determines peoples’ perceptions of different aspects of life (Gula, 2000).
As far as healthcare is concerned, Christian-based institutions expect their employees to demonstrate specific values that shape and inform their practice. These include compassion, love, kindness, honesty, and other similar values. Christians believe that healing from disease is a process that is facilitated by faith. Through such faith, Christians in different settings can maneuver different situations and adhere to standards that clearly dictate morality (Gula, 2000). Postmodern relativism is based on the belief that nothing definite exists due to the relativity of everything. Its effect in healthcare is demonstrated through a belief in science and other scientific approaches. Healing occurs through a combination of scientific procedures and interventions alongside spirituality and faith.
Scientism
Scientism is the tendency to assign greater importance to natural science than other branches of culture and learning. “Scientism is an exaggerated kind of deference towards science, an excessive readiness to accept as authoritative any claim made by the sciences, and to dismiss every kind of criticism of science or its practitioners as anti-scientific prejudice” (Gasparatou, 2017, p.3). This implies that the different schools of thought tend to idealize science and admire it excessively. The thought and belief that science can provide answers to all issues and challenges is perceived as naïve.
There are various objections to scientism. First, scientism is incoherent and self-refuting. This school of thought highlights that there is a rational tendency to accept scientism once it is explained and justified. However, this justification is only based on scientific research. The second aspect of this argument is that it is impossible to only justify scientism using scientific research and nothing else. Thus, scientism is incapable of meeting its standards.
The second objection revolves around scientism’s dilemma. The critical conditions for science to exist tend to be incompatible with scientism. One who is a proponent of scientism can only accept or reject non-scientific sources such as senses and memory. In a case where all these are rejected, the inquiry process becomes useless. In case of acceptance, the proponents are compelled to accept the non-scientific sources as justified (Hietanen, Turunen, & Hirvonen, 2020).
What is Ultimate Reality?
Ultimate reality is the search for the highest authority, the overarching principle of the world and life. It is the primary source of what is right and wrong, good, and bad. In Christianity, this ultimate reality would refer to God. In other religions, the same God goes by other names. Abrahamic faiths perceive their ultimate reality as the creator of the world. God is perceived as intentional and purpose-driven. The ultimate reality is the sole and deserving judge who rewards those who do good and punishes the wrongdoers. It is from Him that all good things come and are regarded as blessings. He also allows the bad to strengthen the faith of His creation and bring glory to his name. This ultimate reality is revered and worshipped wholeheartedly (Meister, 2014). As human beings, believers and spiritual people yearn to emulate their ultimate reality by living life morally.
What is the nature of the universe?
The universe is a concept that involves numerous living and non-living things. Within the universe, multiple beings interact. These beings interact inseparably within time and space. Since the start, the universe has always had a psychic and spiritual dimension. The universe expresses itself differently at various levels. Communion, differentiation, and subjectivity are all modes of expression. The communion is held in the intimacy of interrelatedness; the differentiation is seen in the diversity of the multiple beings, while subjectivity is viewed in the self-organization and interiority. According to cosmogenesis, the universe can be perceived as creative, evolutionary, and emergent. This reality has developed over time and continues to develop through various sequences of irreversible transformations (Earth Ethics Institute, n.d).
What is a Human Being?
In the atheist worldview, a human being is the resul