he result of one's personality, life experience and view of life. Three essential requirements for the latter is having enough emotional development to feel guilty when we do something wrong, accepting the set of norms the group or society have agreed upon, as well as being able to place ourselves in another person's shoes. Our values are often contradictory, and not always logically connected with how we actually behave. It isn't always just about doing what is morally wrong, but also not doing or ignoring what is morally right.
             I believe that the tragedy of HIV and Aids questions some difficult moral issues. Thousands of people are dying every day because they cannot afford the necessary drugs that are out there to improve the length and quality of their lifetime. What is more important; money and profits, or morals and people?
             There are many different branches within ethics, and they differ in the actual purpose of the specific action. I will discuss my issue from an utilitarian point of view, which is looking at the outcome of the action, which yields the greatest happiness for society. (Martinsen, 2000)
             Even though HIV and Aids is a problem worldwide I want to look upon it from a South African perspective, due to the fact that South Africa has the 2nd highest HIV infection rate in the world after Botswana. It is estimated at 5 million or 11% of its population. In the whole of Africa Aids has already claimed 18 million lives, 28.1 million are living with HIV or Aids, and more than 9000 are infected every day. (World Bank, 2002) These are shocking statistics that the world can no longer ignore. Can South Africa continue to protect its property rights ahead of protecting the lives of South Africans? This is one of the most discussed and difficult political dilemmas today, and will be for the upcoming decades.
             So far South Africa has been earning credits internationally, and especially in the
             ...