“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.
All the rest…comes afterwards.” (Camus)
Phil 335 - Syllabus (now available)
Required Books:
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★ Lewis Vaughn, Bioethics - Principles, Issues, & Cases (Oxford UP, 2012), ISBN: 9780199796236
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✦ Please make sure you purchase/ use the 2nd edition of this textbook
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✦ Oxford University Press has set up a website with Student Resources
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★ Additional Required Readings will be posted on Canvass.
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Extra-credit Opportunities:
Each EC paper will count as 1.50% towards your final grade. In order to get this credit, you have to go to one of the lectures (see list below), write 1p (single spaced) about the lecture (summary), and send it to me and Justin (via email) before the end of the term - by Friday, December 4th @ 5:00 pm.
1. Erin Tarver (Emory University), '"On the Particular Racism of Native American Mascots", Wednesday, Nov. 18th. Time: 1:00-2:00 pm Location: McKenzie 221
This event is part of the Ethics Speaker Series to launch UO’s Ethics Minor.
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Additional suggested readings/podcasts - every week I will be posting materials related to our course here. Please take advantage and read/listen/watch them.
Week 1 - In addition to our readings for the first week of class, I encourage you to read Ch. 1 “Bioethics: The Science of Survival” (pdf) from Van Rensselaer Potter’s Bioethics: Bridge to the Future (Prentice-Hall, 1971). This is the book where the very concept of bioethics was first coined.
Week 2 & 3 - Peter Singer raises here an interesting argument against the sanctity of life view. See, “Sanctity of Life or Quality of life?”, Pediatrics, 72(1983):1, p.128-129
Week 4 - We will continue with ethical questions concerning moral personhood. As we mentioned in the class, science cannot provide us a definitive answer to our moral questions. Nonetheless, science can clarify some of the concepts we are employing in those debates. Here is a link to a lecture given by Scott Gilbert, Howard A. Schneiderman Professor of Biology, When Does Personhood Begin? at Swarthmore College.
Week 5 & 6 - Nick Bostrom, Director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University talks about the Status-Quo Bias in relation to genetic enhancement.
Bioethicists hold public debate ban on genetically engineered babies. More details from GenomeWeb.com
