Welcome; Introduction to Course Requirements; Some tantalizing issues

Initial essay assignment

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Theory, Part One

• Overview
• Utilitarianism

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Theory, Part Two

• Ethics of Duty
• Ethics of Virtue

First journal assignment: Reflect on your own moral decision making process. To what extent do you decide moral questions on the basis of consequences? on the basis of deontological rules? Relate your experience to the theories presented in class. (2 pages typed, double-spaced)

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Shaping Our Children through Genetic Manipulation

• Read CMI, Chapter One

Case Study: Down Syndrome

• View "Embryo Screening", New York Times video
  • Notes on "Embryo Screening"
  • Text of article
• View Down Syndrome, New York Times video
• Amy Harmon, " Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus." New York Times, May 9, 2007.

Stock-Fukuyama debate

• PowerPoint: The Stock-Fukuyama Debate
• Stock-Fukuyama Debate on-line in RealVideo and available in transcript from from the Cato Institute. This is an excellent resource.

Additional Resources

• Ethics Updates - Bioethics,
• Cloning,& Reproductive Technologies
• The Clone Zone (University of Utah)
• BBC Cloning Timeline
• BBC on Cloning, Ethics & Religion
• Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) (UK)
• Hinman, Cloning Pets
• New York Times on The DNA Age
• Baruch et al., Genetic Testing of Embryos
• Genetics and Public Policy Center: Publications
• More on animal cloning

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Stem Cell Ethics & Regenerative Medicine

Video

• Michael Sandel, "The Case against Perfection"
• Art Caplan, "Using Biomedicine to Enhance Ourselves"
• Fukuyama and Stock on biotechnology, The Charlie Rose Show. 6/3/02.
• Craig Venter: "A voyage of DNA, genes and the sea." TED: Ideas Worth Spreading.
• "A Discussion about Personal Genetics." Charlie Rose Show with David Agus, Co-Founder, Navigenics, Dean Ornish, President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute and George Church of Harvard Medical School. 7/29/2008.
• "A Discussion with Craig Venter" about having his own genome mapped and published." Charlie Rose Show. 1/9/07
• "A Discussion with Craig Venter" The Charlie Rose Show. 12/25/07

PowerPoint presentations:

• The Ethics of Genetic Manipulation:
• McGee's "Parenting in an Age of Genetics."

Recommended on eReserve (password "phil321" without the quotation marks):

• "Girl or Boy? As Fertility Technology Advances, So Does an Ethical Debate." Grady, D.
• "There is No Me Without You." Shapiro, D.
• "Wanting Babies Like Themselves, Some Parents Choose Genetic Defects." Sanghavi, D.M.
• Katrina Clark, "My Father Was an Anonymous Sperm Donor" Washington Post. December 17, 2006.
• Peggy Orenstein, "In Vitro We Trust" New York Times. July 20, 2008.

Additional resources:

• President's Council on Bioethics
• Genetics and Public Policy Center: Publications

Second Journal Assignment: Genetic testing has made it increasingly possible to test for genetic traits extremely early in a pregnancy. In some cases the results of these tests may result in abortion, in non-implantation of embryos, or in modification of embryos. What general principles should be used in deciding (a) when such tests can be performed and (b) what actions may be taken as a result of such tests. (1-2 pages, double-spaced)

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Stem Cell Ethics and the Moral Status of the Fetus

PowerPoint presentations:

• Stem Cell Ethics: Alternative Sources of Human Embryonic Stem Cells
• Stem Cell Ethics: Understanding the Arguments
• Francis Kamm,"Stem Cell Research:A Moral Defense"

Videos

• Rat with severed spinal cord
• Video: Charlie Rose show on stem cells with Paul Nurse, president of The Rockefeller University, Doug Melton, Co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, George Daley of Children's Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Larry Goldstein, director of the UC San Diego Stem Cell program, and Story Landis of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
• Stamagen cloning
• Stem Cell Ethics Conference - 04/06/07
• Ronald Cole-Turner defends a view of the “relative value” of human embryos—more than cells, less than persons, at
  •http://www.counterbalance.net/stemcol/rct-frame.html
• Cole-Turner’s Burke Lecture on the genetic revolution and designer babies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRrNwFFta5w

Web Resources

• NBAC Executive Summary on stem cell research
• additional material
• President's Council on Bioethics
• Alternative Sources of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
• National Institutes of Health website on stem cell research
• National Academies Guidelines for Stem Cell Research (April 2005)
• Catholic perspectives
• Hinman and Kalichman, "Moral Questions about Stem Cell Research" San Diego Union-Tribune , January 6 2005, p. B9.
• Lawrence M. Hinman and Michael Kalichman, KPBS, "These Days" on stem cell ethics, June 8 2005
• Stem Cell Ethics--Canada
• Overview of embryonic development

Recommended on eReserve:

• "Can Science Resolve the Ethical Impasse in Stem Cell Research?" Snyder, E.Y., Hinman, L.M. and Kalichman, M.W. Nature Biotech
• Stem Cell Reviews: Volume 1, Number 4
• Michael J. Sandel, "Embryo Ethics: The Moral Logic of Stem-Cell Research," NEJM 351;3 (www.nejm.org , July 15, 2004) (eReserve)
• Shari Roan, "Infertility patients caught in the legal, moral and scientific embryo debate," Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2008.

• Recommended: George, R.P. and Tollefsen, C., Embryo: A Defense of Human Life (2008)
• Andres Siegel, "Ethics of Stem Cell Research," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Third Journal Assignment: Stem cell research offers great promises of cures to diseases and disorders that are both very serious and also not susceptible to cures by other means. What limits, if any, should be placed on the conduct of stem cell research?

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In-class Video: Gattaca

• Gattica cast list
• Notes on Gattaca
• Gattaca script
• Gattaca highlighted script

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In-class Video: Gattaca (continued)

• Read CMI, Chapter Two
• PowerPoint on Abortion
• PowerPoint on Principle of Double Effect

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Abortion

Recommended: (all on eReserve)

• Gary Wills, “Why Abortion Is Not a Religious Issue”
• “Missing female births in India,” Lancet 2006.
• Alexi A. Wright, M.D., and Ingrid T. Katz, M.D., M.H.S., “Roe versus Reality — Abortion and Women's Health.”  NEJM
• “China's surplus of sons: A geopolitical time bomb.”  Christian Science Monitor. October 19, 2007.
• “Under Din of Abortion Debate, an Experience Shared Quietly” NYT 2007.

Recommended:

• John Haldane and Patrick Lee, "Aquinas on Human Ensoulment, Abortion, and the Value of Life." Philosophy, Vol. 78 (2003), 255-278,
• Alison McIntyre, "Doctrine of Double Effect," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Debra Satz, "Feminist Perspectives on Reproduction and the Family," 'Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Section 3.1 on abortion.

Fourth Journal Assignment: Abortion is a contentious issue in the current presidential election. Write an essay in which you develop and defend your position on the proper role of government in the regulation of abortion in the United States. (1-2 pages, typed)

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Euthanasia & End-of-Life

• Moyers, "A Death of One's Own"
  • Notes on Moyers video
• PowerPoint on Euthanasia

Read CMI, Chapter Three

Recommended: reading

• Joan Didion, "The Case of Theresa Schiavo"
  New York Review of Books, Volume 52, Number 10 - June 9, 2005; (eReserve)
• John Cornwell, "The Undead." The Times of London. December 9, 2007. (eReserve)
• Lawrence M. Hinman and Michael Kalichman, "The Schiavo Case: What Can We Learn?" Voice of San Diego, April 25, 2005.
• Michael Kalichman and Lawrence M. Hinman, "The Schiavo Case: Ethics and the End of Life" North County Times, March 26 2005.
• William Saletan, "The Doctors Who Are Redefining Life and Death." Washington Post, October 5, 2008.

Notes:

• Beyond Belief III
• New England Journal of Medicine Roundtable on Organ Donation after Cardian Death
• "Scientists explore new source of stem cells," Los Angeles Times, October 9, 2008.

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Euthanasia & End-of-Life (Bill Moyers video, "A Death of One's Own,", part 1)

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Euthanasia & End-of-Life (video, part 2)

Fifth Journal Assignment: Increasingly we are forced to choose when to discontinue further medical care for terminally ill patients. Write an essay in which you begin to develop your position on active and passive euthanasia. (1-2 pages, typed.)

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Concluding Discussion: End-of_life Decisions
Review for Mid-term Exam

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Mid-Term Exam

• Previous exam
• Short answer questions may cover:
  • Class PowerPoint presentations
  • Class videos and discussions
  • Overviews of the Moral Issues in CMI
  • Stock and Fukuyama, "The Clone Wars"
  • McGee. "Parenting in an Era of Genetics"
  • Jame English, "Abortion and the Concept of a Person"
  • Don Marquis, "Why Abortion Is Immoral"
  • John Hardwig, "Is there a duty to die?"
  • James Rachels, "Active and Passive Euthanasia"
• Long Essay Questions: (I will choose one of the following questions.)
  • Consequentialist and deontological approaches to moral questions sometimes yield quite different answers. Write an essay, showing a critical awareness of the class readings and lectures and discussions, in which you discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of both deontological and consequentialist approaches to the question of the public funding of human embryonic stem cell research. Be sure to indicate what the current status of such funding is in the United States. State and defend your own position on this issue.
  • Write an essay critically applying the ideas in your readings on end-of-life issues to Bill Moyers' "A Death of One's Own." Be sure to highlight the difference between consequentialist and deontological approaches.
• Journals: At the beginning of the exam please turn in your journals. There should be five journal entries on the topics listed above.

Punishment & the Death Penalty

Read: CMI, Chapter Four

• Punishment
• Pew Report on Americans in Prison 2008
• "Keep crack criminals in prison" LA Times Feb. 27 20008; U.S. Sentencing Commision
• "Prison Population around the Globe." Interactive Graphic, New York Times.
• American Exceptionalism: Criminal Justice. New York Times series by Adam Liptak.

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The Death Penalty; Dead Man Walking

Video

• Dead Man Walking
• script of Dead Man Walking

PowerPoint

• Death Penalty & Capital Punishment

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Return of Mid-term; Theories of Punishment

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The Death Penalty (Dead Man Walking, middle)

Sixth Journal Assignment: Write an essay on your position on the morality of the death penalty in the United States. (2 pages, double-spaced)

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The Death Penalty (Dead Man Walking, conclusion)

• Office hours today will be held in Aromas

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Just War Theory

• PowerPoint: Just War

Seventh Journal Assignment: When is a nation justified in going to war?

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Humanitarian Intervention

• Humanitarian Intervention

Read:

• CMI, Chapter 5 (required)
• David Sussman, "What's Wrong with Torture?" (eReserve) (required)
• "Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda," New York Times, November 10, 2008.

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Terrorism

Recommended Videos: Rendition; Munich; Syriana

Eighth Journal Assignment: Write an essay in which you discuss the ethical issues raised in one of the following movies: Rendition, Munich, or Syriana.

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Torture

• PowerPoint: Torture
• Yoo memo 2003
• CBS 60 Minutes on Terror Detainee
• John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, "Muslim True/False"
• Gallup Pole on "Who Speaks for Islam?"
• Mark Danner, "Torture, Human Rights Bush's Exception." UCSD. September 27, 2008.
• Ethics Updates resources on torture

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Assignment:

• View either Steven Spielberg's "Munich" or Gavin Hood's "Rendition"

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Torture

• PowerPoint

Ninth Journal Assignment: Write an essay in which you develop and defend your position on the morality of torture.

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Thanksgiving Vacation

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In the news:

• Juliet Macur, "Born to Run? Little Ones Get Test for Sports Gene," New York Times, November 29, 2008.

initial presentation on Race.

• Read Chapter Six, Overview of the Ethical Issues
• PowerPoint on Race

Tenth Journal Assignment:

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Video: "The Torture Question." Frontline.

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Please turn in print copies of the last five journal entries at the beginning of the final exam.

The exam will be the same format the the mid-term: ten short answer questions and one long essay.  The short answer questions are worth five points apiece, the long essay is worth fifty points.

Potential material for short-answer questions:


Possible long-essay questions:

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Concluding Comments