Philosophy 233 - Bioethics, Fall 2015
Instructor: Brian Talbot
Email: When I put my address on the web, I get tons of spam. So it's a little puzzle. This course is in run by the philosophy department. My email address is the name of that department, @, and then the name of this website (bigfatgenius.com). It's on the syllabus too.
Office Location: Wilson 103
Office Hours: M, T, W, Th starting at 5:30. I will stay as long as there are people to talk to; if no one shows up, I'll leave at 6. I you can't make those times, email me and we can make an appointment.
Teaching assistant: Katie Shanker, kshanker at wustl
TA office hours: T & Th, 1-2pm
TA office location: Wilson 110
Course Requirements
Homework: 20% of final grade
Quizzes: 15% of final grade
First paper: 30% of final grade
Final paper: 35% of final grade
Attendance: You get three unexcused absences/latenesses. For every one over three, your overall grade in the class decreases by 1/3 step (e.g. from A- to B+).
Lateness: No late homework will be accepted without a well documented good excuse. Similarly, there will be no make up quizzes or excused missed quizzes without a well documented good excuse.
Schedule
A reading or homework that is listed on a given day should be read or turned in on the day it is listed.
I will not accept late homework, emailed homework, or handwritten homework.
Tues, Aug 25
* Handout: Click here for the handout.
Thurs, Aug 27
* Survey: Click here for the survey. Please complete this by Wednesday evening so I can read the answers before class.
* Handout: Click here for the handout.
Tues, Sep 1
* Homework: Click here.
Thurs, Sep 3
* Homework (1 of 2): Click here.
* Reading: Harlan Lane, "Ethnicity, ethics, and the Deaf-World"
* Reading: Sally Williams, "Why not all deaf people want to be cured"
* Homework (2 of 2): Click here for the homework.
Tues, Sep 8
* Reading: Dena Davis, "Genetic Dilemmas and the Childs Right to an Open Future". You only need to read sections III, IV, and V.
* Reading: Claudia Mills, "Child's Right to Open Future".
* Homework: Click here for the homework.
* Handout: Click here for the handout.
Thurs, Sep 10
* Handout: Click here for the handout.
Tues, Sep 15
* No reading or homework.
Thurs, Sep 17
* Reading: Simona Giordano, "Ethics of management of gender atypical organization in children".
* Homework: Click here for the homework.
* Handout: Click here for the handout.
Tues, Sep 22
* No reading or homework.
Thurs, Sep 24
* Reading: Rebecca Wells, "To tell the truth, the whole truth, may do patients harm".
* Reading: Ben Goldacre, "The placebo effect" (short video)
* Homework: Click here for the homework.
* Handout: Click here for the handout.
Mon, Sep 28
* Homework (by 8pm): Email an outline to Katie. Put the outline in the body of the email; no attachments. Subject line of the email must be: 233 OUTLINE PAPER 1.
Tues, Sep 29
* Handout: Click here for the handout.
Thurs, Oct 1
* Handout: Click here.
Tues, Oct 6
* Reading: Margaret Little, "Cosmetic surgery suspect norms ethics of complicity".
* Reading: Roberta Honigman et al, "A Review of Psychosocial Outcomes for Patients Seeking Cosmetic Surgery". The important parts start on page 4 (From "Predictors of Poor Outcomes").
* Homework: Click here for the homework.
Thur, Oct 8
* Handout: Click here.
Mon, Oct 12
* Homework: Submit a draft of your paper to your partner, by 8pm; cc Katie, subject line 233 DRAFT PAPER 1.
Tues, Oct 13
* Homework: Click here for the homework. Look at the homework before looking at any of the reading or the implicit association test, trust me.
* Implicit association test: Go here, click "I wish to proceed" and take two of the tests on the list.
* Reading: Elizabeth Chapman, Anna Kaatz, Molly Carnes, Physicians and implicit bias.
* Supplementary reading: JoAnn Alspach, Is there gender bias in critical care?.
Thurs, Oct 14
* Homework due by 8pm: Email comments to your partner; the link explains what these should look like. Cc. these to your TA, subject line 233 COMMENTS PAPER 1.
* Video: start at 2:20, end 15:20
* Handout: Click here.
Tues, Oct 20
* 8pm, paper due; email it to your TA, subject line 233 PAPER 1 FINAL.
* Handout: Click here.
* Explanation of the Let's make a deal problem.
Thurs, Oct 22
* Reading: Katy Butler, What broke my father's heart.
* Reading: James Rachels, Active and Passive Euthanasia.
* Homework: Click here for the homework.
* Handout: Click here for the handout.
Tues, Oct 27
* Survey: Please complete this survey by class time.
Thurs, Oct 29
* Reading: Chris Heathwood, Welfare.
* Homework: Click here.
* Handout: Click here.
Tues, Nov 3
* Handout: Click here.
Thurs, Nov 5
* Reading: John Hardwig - Is there a duty to die?
* Homework: Click here for the homework.
* Handout: Click here.
Tues, Nov 10
* 8pm, email your outline to Katie, subject 233 OUTLINE PAPER 2. The assignment is same as the last outline. Bring your outline to class as well.
* Handout: Click here.
Thur, Nov 12
* Reading: Sarah Miller, The invisibility of gender.
* Homework: Click here.
* Handout: Click here.
Tues, Nov 17
* Handout: Click here.
Thurs, Nov 19
* No reading or homework.
* Office hours cancelled.
Sun, Nov 22
* Homework: Submit a draft of your paper to your partner, by 8pm; cc Katie, subject line 233 DRAFT PAPER 2.
Mon, Nov 23
* Office hours: 11:30-1, 2:30-6
Tues, Nov 24
* No class.
* Homework due by 8pm: Email comments to your partner; the link explains what these should look like. Cc. these to your TA, subject line 233 COMMENTS PAPER 2.
Dec 1
* Paper Due: 8pm. Email to Katie, subject line 233 PAPER 2 FINAL.
The paper
* If you would like your 2nd paper to be worth 40% of your overall grade in the class, and the first to be 25%, then put "40% option" just under your name on your paper.
* Paper assignment: Click here for the second paper assignment.
* Paper assignment: Click here for the paper assignment.
* Outline assignment: Click here for the outline assignment.
* Grading standards: Click here for the grading standards for the final paper.
* Sample paper: Click here.
Things that might be on quizzes from this point forward
Please note: Questions on quizzes will often ask you to combine ideas from multiple of the categories below. So you may be asked to falsify a conditional about the connection between consent and moral wrongness, for example.
* Conditionals: Be able to identify what conclusions you can draw from conditionals and what conclusions you can't; be able to show that a given conditional is false; and if given a conditional and a potential counterexample, be able to explain whether the potential counterexample is a good counterexample or not.
* Standpoints of evaluation: Know the difference between the three different standpoints we have discussed, know what sorts of things count as right or wrong from each standpoint, be able to identify whether something is plausibly right or wrong from various standpoints, and be able to give your own examples of things that are right, acceptable, and wrong from each standpoint (i.e. give examples we did not discuss in class).
* Wrong/permissible: Know that "wrong" means "not permissible" and vice versa. Be able to give examples (not discussed in class) of very plausible acts that are wrong or permissible. If given an example of an act, be able to say something about why it might be wrong of permissible. Know what "duty," "obligation," and "to have a right" mean. Be able to translate sentences about wrongness or permissibility into sentences about duties or obligations or rights, and vice versa.
* Good/bad: Understand difference between partly and overall good/bad, and how to derive overall goodness/badness from partial goodness/badness. Be able to give new examples of plausibly partly good/bad and overall good/bad things. Be able to discuss the partial/overall goodness/badness of examples I give and defend these points.
* Value: Know the definitions of instrumental and intrinsic value, be able to give plausible examples of each (beyond what we've discussed in class), be able to plausibly identify examples I give as either instrumentally or intrinsically valuable.
* Consent: Know what morally relevant and superficial consent are, be able to give your own plausible examples of each, be able to identify if examples I give are or are not each; understand what this has to do with freedom and/or autonomy.
* Freedom: Know the difference between freedom and autonomy. Be able to give your own plausible examples of situations involving each (examples not discussed in class). Be able to give your own plausible examples of cases in which these come apart (e.g. freedom without autonomy autonomy). If I give you an example, be able to explain which of these it is an example of.
* Complicity: Know what complicity is, if given examples be able to identify what acts are complicit with what (and which are not examples of complicity). Be able to give your own examples of complicity, especially of morally wrong complicity and plausibly morally permissible complicity.
* Theories of welfare: Know the definitions of welfare hedonism, preferentism, and objective list theories of welfare. If given examples of actions or choices, be able to say what each theory would say about how these actions or choices do or don't contribute to welfare, and why. Be able to give your own examples (not discussed in class) of actions or choices that each theory would say do contribute to welfare and don't contribute to welfare. Be able to give your own examples of actions/choices that all the theories agree about and examples that they would disagree about, and be able to explain why. Note: there are many variations of each view; if you give examples of things that would be good/bad for someone according to a particular view (e.g. preferentism), pick examples that would be plausible on almost any version of the view (i.e. examples that almost any preferentist would agree are good for a person).
* Decision theory: Be able to explain the difference between an expected utility theory and a safety oriented theory of decision making. Be able to give examples (not discussed in class) where the two sorts of theories would disagree about what to do. If given an example of a decision, be able to explain whether it is more what an expected utility theory would say to do or a safety oriented theory would say to do, and why.
* Active and passive euthanasia: Be able to give clear examples (not discussed in class) of active and passive euthanasia. If given examples, be able to say if they are examples of active or passive euthanasia, or neither, and why.