Final answer:
Human accountability in life or death decisions encompasses ethical considerations, legal implications, societal norms, and moral responsibility. Various theoretical frameworks offer different perspectives on how these decisions are judged morally and legally. Carol Gilligan's work highlights the complexity of moral accountability and the importance of considering justice and empathy in ethical discussions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Decisions in life or death situations are multifaceted, involving various layers of accountability, responsibility, and judgment. These decisions are examined through different lenses such as ethical considerations, legal implications, societal norms, and moral responsibility. According to such frameworks as the social contract theory, individuals must accept certain moral and political obligations as members of society, which includes behaving in a way that upholds societal morals and abiding by the laws that govern human behavior.
Carol Gilligan, a notable researcher into morality, believed that earlier research had overlooked the justice perspective and sympathetic reactions to moral situations, pioneered by virtue ethics that promotes character development and right habits or traits. This indicates the complexity of moral development and accountability that transcends simple absolutes or relativistic views. In this line of thought, the consequentialist, deontological, and virtue ethics frameworks provide distinct approaches to evaluating the morality of actions, whether they are deemed duties, measured by their consequence, or by the virtues they express.