BIOLOGY 301
BIOETHICS

1. Catalog Entry

Biology 301. Bioethics
Two hours lecture (four hours lecture/week for seven weeks) (4).

Biology 301 examines the historical, social, cultural, and philosophical bases of various bioethical controversies. Students will analyze the assumptions underlying positions, the arguments presented in defense of these positions, and the possibility of resolving conflicts that arise over the issues involved.

2. Detailed Description of Content of Course

Note : Case Studies are provided as examples. The actual case studies used may vary from year to year.

1. Experimental Medicine and the Problem of Human Experimentation

• Case Study: Heart Transplants
• Case Study: Experimental Treatments for AIDS
• Ethical Limits of Experimental Treatments

2. The Ethics of Animal Experimentation

• Case Study: Anti-Vivisection Movements in the 19th Century
• Case Study: The Rise of Animal Rights Movement
• Justifications for Animal Experimentation
• Justifications for Animal Rights

3. Environmental Ethics

• Utilitarian versus Preservationist Approaches
• Case Study: The Hetch Hetchy Dam
• Case Study: The Spotted Owl and Forest Management

4. Ethics in Research: Alleged Cases of Scientific Dishonesty

• Case Study: Cyril Burt and Intelligence Testing
• Contemporary Cases of Whistle-Blowing in Science

3. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course

This course will be run on a modified seminar format. There will be occasional lectures, but most of the time will be devoted to class discussion. Students will be expected to write short (1-2 page) reaction papers after each reading assignment. These papers will serve as a basis for small group discussion. At the end of each discussion, selected groups will report their deliberations to the class for further discussion. Lecture will be used to present problems, positions, and case studies. These will be supplemented, when appropriate, by videotapes. Students will also have the opportunity to initiate or expand topics through a modified "learning cycle" approach.

4. Goals and Objectives of Course

By the end of the course students will be expected to accomplish the following goals:

1. Discuss the historical background of selected bioethical controversies.
2. Identify the major positions taken in these controversies.
3. Identify the explicit and implicit assumption underlying these positions.
4. Take a position and defend it against potential criticism.
5. Discuss the similarities and differences among historical and contemporary cases involving bioethical issues.

5. Assessment Measures

Students outcomes will be evaluated through:

1. Pre- and post-tests of course content.
2. Short reaction papers written in response to readings.
3. Class discussion.
4. Journals or other types of informal writing, particularly entries aimed at drawing parallels between historical case studies and issues in the daily news.
5. One or more formal papers involving library research.

6. Other Course Information

1. Reading List:

• VanDeVeer and Pierce, eds., People, Penguins, and Plastic Trees: Basic Issues in Environmental Ethics (1986).
• Baird and Rosenbaum, eds., Animal Experimentation: The Moral Issues (1991).
• Selected articles and editorials from semi-popular journals, including: Christian Century, commonweal, The Nation, The New Republic, Hastings Center Report.

2. Additional Sources:

• Caplan, If I Were A Rich Man Could I Buy A Pancreas? (1992).
• Caplan, When Medicine Went Mad: Bioethics and the Holocaust (1992).
• Allison, Ecology and Utility: The Philosophical Dilemmas of Planetary Management (1991).
• Leahy, Against Liberation: Putting Animals in Perspective (1991).
• Ryder, Animal Revolution: Changing Attitudes Towards Speciesism (1989).
• NOVA: Do Scientists Cheat? (film)

7. Approval and Approval

DATE ACTION REVIEWED BY
September 2001 Dr. Charles M. Neal, Chair