Summer Pre-Session, 2009
Phil. 330
Detail

Date	Day	Topic
June 1	Monday	Course Introduction Defining Moral Problems: Everyday Moral Reasoning journal guidelines PowerPoint presentations: Ethical Theory: Overview, Utilitarianism Ethical Theory: Rule-based approaches to morality Calvin, Hobbes, and Kant Obama Remarks on Golden Rule Video Read: Contemporary Moral Issues (CMI), Introduction 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.
2	Tuesday	Shaping Our Children through Genetic Manipulation Video: Gattaca Notes on Gattaca Gattaca script Gattaca highlighted script Read: CMI, Chapter One. First Journal Assignment: Write an essay discussing the differences between deontological and consequentialist approaches in ethical theory and your own position in this regard. (2 pages, double-spaced)
3	Wednesday	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 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: Write an essay discussing the ethical issues in Gattaca.(2 pages, double-spaced).
4	Thursday	Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine PowerPoint 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 China Stem Cell therapy; 2009 Web Resources Draft NIH Guidelines ofr Human Stem Cell Research 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. Third 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. (2 pages, double-spaced).
5	Friday	Alternative Sources of Pluripotent Stem Cells PowerPoint The Quest for Perfection Michael Sandel, "The Case against Perfection" Art Caplan, "Using Biomedicine to Enhance Ourselves" Fourth Journal Assignment: Human embryonic stem cell research involves the destructive use of human embryos. What guidelines should govern the use of such embryos? (2 pages, double-spaced.)
8	Monday	Abortion PowerPoint Read CMI, Chapter Two "US Abortion Rates Continue to Decline" CDC abortion stats, 2005 Guttmacher stats, 2008 Fifth Journal Assignment: Write an essay discussing your views on the moral status of the embryo. Is it a person? Why, why not? When? How does your view relate to the authors we are considering?
9	Tuesday	Mid-term Exam Possible long essay questions: (I will choose one of these.) 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 genetic manipulation. State and defend your own position on this issue. 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 stem cell research. State and defend your own position on this issue. Previous exam Journals: Note: you must turn in five journal entries prior to the mid-term.
10	Wednesday	Euthanasia & End-of-Life PowerPoint PowerPoint on Euthanasia Read CMI, Chapter Three Recommended: reading Oregon Death-with-Dignity Reports 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. Sixth Journal Assignment: Write an essay in which you discuss the issues raised by the Moyers' video "A Death of One's Own."
11	Thursday	Euthanasia & End-of-Life Video: Bill Moyers, "A Death of One's Own" Notes on Moyers video Read: CMI, Chapter on Punishment Atul Gawande, "Hellhole," New Yorker, March 30, 2009. Seventh Journal Assignment: Write an essay in which you discuss ethical issues relating to end-of-life decisions in our readings.
12	Friday	Discussion of journal entries on Moyers' video. Punishment "Department of Pre-Crime" PowerPoint on Punishment PowerPoint on Death Penalty Read: CMI, Chapter on Punishment Atul Gawande, "Hellhole," New Yorker, March 30, 2009. Capital Punishment Eighth Journal Assignment: Write an essay on the ethical issues raised by the Moyers' video "A Death of One's Own."
15	Monday	Capital Punishment Video: Dead Man Walking PowerPoint script of Dead Man Walking; highlighted Ninth Journal Assignment: on readings in the chapter on punishment and the death penalty.
16	Tuesday	War Just War Theory PowerPoint on Just War Theory Read: CMI, Chapter on war Jus post Bellum: Justice and Reconciliation Video: Phil Zimbardo on Torture; Zimbardo on TED Tenth Journal Assignment: Write an essay discussing ethical issues raised by the film Dead Man Walking.
17	Wednesday	*Torture* Video:Munich Script; OCR Script; Eleventh Journal Assignment: Discuss the morality of war in light of the class readings.
18	Thursday	Terrorism and Torture Read: David Sussman, "What's Wrong with Torture?" (eReserve) PowerPoint: Torture Recommended: ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen "High Value Detainees" in CIA Custody Mark Danner, The Red Cross Torture Report: What It Means, New York Review of Books, 56, 7 (April 30, 2009) Mark Danner, "US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites," New York Review of Books, 56, 6 (April 9, 2009). New York Times guide to the Torture Memos Office of Legal Counsel Legal Memoranda (April 19, 2009) "In Adopting Harsh Tactics, No Look at the Past," NYT, April 22, 2009. US Senate Final Report on Detainees in U.S. Custody Released April 21, 2009. Timeline. Senate Intelligence committee. Released April 22, 2009. Washington Post summary. April 23, 2009; Post article. Thomas Friedman, "A Tortorous Compromise" Leon Panetta, "No Torture. No Exceptions." Washington Monthly, 2008. "Detainee Says He Lied Repeatedly in Harsh Interrogations." Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2009. "CIA Mistaken on 'High-Value' Detainee, Document Shows," Washington Post, June 16, 2009. Journal: discuss ethical issues in "Munich"
19	Friday	Final Exam Material for short answer questions: Readings in CMI, chapters on end-of-life, punishment and the death penalty, and war, terrorism and torture. Sussman reading, "What's wrong with torture?" (eReserve) four videos: Moyers, Dead Man Walking, Munich, Zimbardo on torture Class PowerPoint presentations: euthanasia, punishment, death penalty, just war, torture Possible long essay questions: Showing a critical awareness of the course readings, videos, and discussions, develop and defend your position on the morality of physician-assisted dying. Showing a critical awareness of the course readings, videos, and discussions, develop and defend your position on the morality of the death penalty in the United States. Turn in six journal entries at beginning of exam: one entry on each of the three videos, one entry on each of the three chapters.