BIOETHICS
Instructional goals
Bioethical issues play a crucial role both in people's personal choices and in the political sphere. The aim of this course is to introduce students to the main controversies in contemporary bioethics, particularly those concerning freedom of choice within the framework of liberal and democratic societies. At the end of the course, students will be equipped with the conceptual tools necessary to understand the main debates in bioethics and the main positions in the debate. They will likely be able to develop their own positions on these issues.
Intended learning outcomes
1) Knowledge and understanding - All major ethical theories relevant to bioethical debates will be introduced and analyzed
2) Applying knowledge and understanding - These theories will be applied to real case scenarios and current debates to help students contextualise them in the bioethical arena.
3) Making judgements - For and against bioethical positions in current debates will help students to clarify their position on an issue through insightful analysis and supported by conceptual rigour.
4) Communication - Students' communication skills will be enhanced through the use of essays, class discussions and, where relevant, assessment tests.
5) Lifelong learning skills - Students are expected to improve their analytical skills and engage with the problems and dilemmas presented in a way that will help them to evaluate situations and make decisions and arguments that will hopefully help them throughout their lives.
Course Contents
The aim of the course is to introduce, analyse and discuss the main issues and cases in bioethics.
Bioethics is both a product of the affirmation of individual freedom in democratic societies and a cause of progress for a vibrant democratic society. The idea underlying this course is that bioethical cases (assisted reproduction, end-of-life choices, the moral status of non-human animals, duties to future generations, etc.) are not "emergencies" that threaten consolidated values and the sanctity of life, but on the contrary are opportunities to allow people to make new meaningful choices about their lives. After an introduction to the main theoretical approaches to bioethics, the most important issues in bioethics will be presented. Students will be also given cases and relevant bioethical papers and asked to discuss them in class to understand how democratic societies should deal with the plurality of moral views on these situations.
Reference Books
T.L. Beauchamp, & J.F. Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, Oxford U.P., 2019.
S. Post (eds), Encyclopedia of Bioethics, Thomson Gale, 2004
Teaching Methods
Lectures, class debates, and analysis of relevant bioethical papers
Assessment Method
- Performance in class (class attendance and participation in class discussions) 25%;
- Mid-term exam (writing a short essay of between 300 and 500 words): 25%;
- Final paper (a take-home paper on a topic of the course chosen by the student, between 4000 and 6000 words, including references and footnotes): 50%.
Thesis assignment criteria
The topic of the final paper will be assigned on the basis of the student's progress during the course and should be agreed with the teacher.
Week 1
Class 1- Detailed explanation of the course Syllabus
Class 2– Normative Ethics and Normative Bioethics
Reference reading material: T.L. Beauchamp, & J.F. Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, Oxford U.P., 2019.
Week 2
Class 1- Narrow Bioethics and Global Bioethics
Class 2- Sanctity of Life Ethics and Quality of Life Ethics
Reference reading material:
P. Singer, Rethinking Life and Death, St Martin’s Press, New York 1995
Week 3
Class 1- Ethics at the beginning of life: abortion and conscientious objection
Class 2- Discussion of selected extracts from papers on abortion
Reference reading material:
Judith Jarvis Thomson, A defense of abortion, in Philosophy & Public Affairs, 1(1), pp. 47-66;
J. Finnis, The Rights and Wrongs of Abortion: A Reply to Judith Thomson, in Philosophy&Public Affairs, 2(2), pp. 117-145
Week 4
Class 1- Assisted Fertilisation
Class 2- Discussion of selected excerpts on the topic of reproductive technologies
Reference reading material:
K. MacKay, The ‘tyranny of reproduction’: Could ectogenesis further women’s liberation?, in Bioethics, 34, 2020, pp. 346-353
Week 5
Class 1- Antinatalism and pronatalism
Class 2- Discussion of selected extracts on antinatalism
Reference reading material:
D. Benatar, Why it is better never to come into existence, in American philosophical Quarterly, 34 (3), pp. 345-355
Week 6
Class 1- Ethics at the end of life: advance directives
Class 2- Discussion of selected extracts on advance directives
Reference reading material:
C.B. Cohen, Philosophical challenges to the use of advance directives, in C. Khushf, The Handbook of Bioethics, Kluwer Academic Publisher, Amsterdam 2004, pp. 291-314
Week 7
Class 1- Ethics at the end of life: euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide
Class 2- Discussion of selected extracts on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide
Reference reading material:
J. Rachels, Active and passive euthanasia, in New England Journal of Medicine, 292(2), pp. 78-80
Week 8
Class 1 - Human enhancement debate
Class 2 - Discussion of selected excerpts on human enhancement
Reference Reading material:
N. Bostrom, A history of trans humanist thought, in Journal of evolution and technology, 14(1), pp. 1-25
Week 9
Class 1 - Moral enhancement
Class 2 - Discussion of selected excerpts on moral enhancement
Reference reading material:
I. Persson, J. Savulescu, The perils of cognitive enhancement and the urgent imperative to enhance the moral character of humanity, in Journal of Applied Philosophy, 25 (3), pp. 162-177
Week 10
Class 1- The moral status of non-human animals
Class 2- Food ethics with an emphasis on cellular agriculture
Reference reading material:
P. Singer, Animal liberation now, Vintage Publishing, New York 2023;
L. Lo Sapio, The Ethics of Cultivated Meat
Hypes and Hopes of a New Challenging Technology, in International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 36(1), 2022, pp. 27-39
Week 11
Class 1- Ethics of AI
Lezione 2- Discussion of selected excerpts on ethics of AI
Reference reading material:
M. Coeckelbergh, AI Ethics, The MIT Press, Cambridge 2020
Week 12
Class 1- The Sixth Mass Extinction and the Transformation of Liberal Democratic Societies
Class 2- Discussion of extracts on Sixth Mass Extinction and the transformation of liberal democratic societies
Reference reading material:
N. Bostrom, The Vulnerable World Hypothesis, in Global Policy, 10(4), 2019, pp. 455-476