Philosophy 163, Bio-Medical Ethics
Spring 2006
Ledden Auditorium
MWF 12:00 – 12:50
Instructor: Matthew Talbert
Office hours: W 1:00 – 3:00 (and by appointment); HSS
8061
Office phone: 858-822-2686
Email: mtalbertATucsd.edu (replace “AT” with “@”)
Course Description
This class will focus on several
ethical issues that arise in the context of medical practice and
treatment. Put abstractly, our concern will
be with how to respond to the value of human life. Most of us agree that human life is, in some
way, valuable. We are also likely to
agree that this value calls for a certain sort of respect and that respecting
human life in the appropriate way means observing certain (moral) restrictions
on how we act. However, even if we agree
that the value of human life calls for certain forms of respect and that this
entails that some actions or practices are impermissible, we may still often disagree
as to how an appropriate respect for human life will lead us to act. Such disagreement may arise when we consider
the permissibility of abortion and euthanasia, or when we consider how to
respect the autonomy of people suffering from late-stage Alzheimer’s disease. In the readings for this course, we will
consider disagreements about these and other issues.
Requirements
Paper: There is one writing assignment in this class. Your paper should be no shorter than four
pages and no longer than five pages; it will count toward 25% of your final grade. This assignment is due in lecture on June 2. The instructor will provide paper
topics. Papers should be clearly written
and any sources should be appropriately documented. Careful proofreading is essential to
receiving a good grade. You can find
useful information about various styles of documentation at websites like
www.aresearchguide.com.
Exams: There
will be three exams in this class: two short exams (on April 28 and May 22)
taken during the lecture meeting and a final exam on the scheduled exam date (Friday,
June 16). The two short exams will both
be worth 15% of your final grade and the final exam will count toward 35% of
your grade.
Section Grade: Your
section TA will assign 10% of your final grade based on your attendance and
participation in section. An excused
absence will be granted only on the showing of documentation that indicates
that you were unable to attend class.
Make-up exams and extended deadlines: It will be possible to make up an exam or to extend a
deadline only on the showing of a valid excuse in a timely fashion.
Cheating and Plagiarism: Please be aware that the Academic Honor Code will be
enforced in this class. Plagiarism and
other forms of cheating will be dealt with severely.
Course Materials
One textbook is required for
this course: Bioethics: An Anthology
(2nd edition, Blackwell
Publishing) edited by Kuhse and Singer.
A few additional required articles are available through the library’s
online reserve service at roger.ucsd.edu.
Course Schedule (subject to revision)
M Apr 3 Introduction to class
W Apr 5 Sacred Congregation, “Declaration on
Euthanasia” (276); Rachels, “Killing and Letting Die” (288)
F Apr 7 Foot,
“Euthanasia” (online)
M Apr 10 Nesbitt, “Is Killing No Worse Than Letting
Die?” (292); Kuhse, “Why Killing is Not Always Worse .
. .” (297)
W Apr 12 Glover, “The
Sanctity of Life” (266)
F Apr 14 No New
M Apr 17 Yardley and Newman, “Schiavo . . .” (online); Report of the ad hoc Committee, “A Definition of Irreversible Coma” (339); Singer, “Is the Sanctity of Life Ethic Terminally Ill?” (344)W Apr 19 Hill, “The Note” (377); Davis, “Right to Life of Handicapped” (334); Callahan, “When Self- Determination Runs Amok” (381); Lachs, “When Abstract Moralizing Runs Amok” (386)
F Apr 21 No New
M Apr 24 Finnis, “Abortion
and Health Care Ethics” (17)
W Apr 26 Tooley, “Abortion
and Infanticide” (25)
F Apr 28 First In-Class
Exam
M May 1 Thomson, “A Defense
of Abortion” (40)
W May 3 Marquis, “Why Abortion is Immoral” (51); Harris,
“Stem Cells, Sex, and Procreation” (545); Saletan
and Pollitt, “Is Abortion Bad?” (online)
F May 5 No New
M May 8 Weil, “A Wrongful
Birth?” (online); Purdy, “Genetics and Reproductive Risk . . .” (115)
W May 10 Hare, “The Abnormal
Child . . .” (329); Parfit, “Rights, Interests, and Possible People” (108)
F May 12 Pence, “The McCaughey Septuplets . . .” (87);
Savulescu, “Sex Selection: The Case For” (145)
M May 15 Crouch, “A Crusade Born of a Suffering
Infant's Cry” (online); Kuhse, “A Modern Myth . . .” (315)
W May 17 Glover, “Questions
About Some Uses of Genetic Engineering” (187)
F May 19 No New
M May 22 Second In-Class Exam / Paper Topics Distributed
W May 24 Resnik, “The Moral
Significance . . .” (209)
F May 26 Sandel, “The Case Against Perfection” (online);
Saletan, “Home Field . . .” (online)
M May 29 Memorial Day
W May 31 Tooley, “The Moral
Status of [Cloning],” (162)
F Jun 2 Papers Due (in lecture); Dworkin, “Life
Past Reason” (357)
M Jun 5 Dresser, “Dworkin on
Dementia . . .” (365)
W Jun 7 Jaworska, “Respecting
the Margins of Agency. . .” (online)
F Jun 9 No
New
F Jun 16 Final Exam (LEDDN / 11:30 – 2:30)
Links to overhead
projections: Classes 2 – 7 (htm) /
(Word)
Link to Review Sheet: Midterm I (htm) / (Word)
Links to overhead projections: Classes 8 – 10 (htm) / (Word)
Links to overhead projections: Classes 13 – 18 (htm) /
(Word)
Link to Review Sheet: Midterm II (htm) / (Word)
Links to overhead projections: Classes 23 – 29 (htm) / (Word)