Monday, January 12, 2015

Introductions

We begin, as in all my classes, with an invitation: tell us who you are, and why you're here. We'll introduce ourselves in class and here. I'll start.

I'm the prof for this course, PHIL 3345, Bioethics. I hold degrees from the University of Missouri and Vanderbilt, and I'm here because the ethics of life and death is at the very heart of what philosophy, defined as the love of (and quest for) wisdom, is supposed to be about. I'm still here in middle Tennessee, after relocating for Grad School, because it's the place where I met my wife and decided to call home. No regrets.

Enough about me (unless you're curious for just a bit more).

Who are you? Why are you here? (Bear in mind, as you reply, that this is an open site. There's nothing preventing the world from reading what we post here, except of course the world's own distraction.)

27 comments:

  1. I guess I'll go first since I'm really excited about this class! My name is Kiara Rainer. I am a senior here at MTSU. I originally came to MTSU with ideas of being a comic book artist, but once I saw I had proficiency in math and science, I switched over to nursing, then a double major of nursing and biology(I thoubt about being a nurse and genetic counselor), and FINALLY I switched to being pre-med. I definitely sure this was the one thing I wanted to do. I believe it will bring out my greatest potential in leadership, communication, and service. Once I started my journey to enter medical school, I never went back. Now, I'm at the end of my college journey, hoping to get into medical school this Fall, and I chose to take Bioethics so that it will open my eyes to alot of issues in medicine and healthcare I never thought about. Can't wait to meet everybody!

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  2. Thanks for stepping up, Kiara. Extra credit for going first!

    Your academic path suggests the possibility of something I'd love to see, and maybe use in a future class: a Bioethics graphic novel. Maybe you'll want to experiment this semester with the genre? Anyway, your enthusiasm for a medical career AS an expression of "leadership, communication, and service" is refreshing.

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    1. Thank you Dr. Oliver! I love extra credit! I'm glad you like my reasons for wanting to become a doctor and you think I should look into making a Bioethics graphic novel? Sounds interesting! I could take a look into that

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  3. My name is Marisa Pasquerilla and I am a junior at MTSU. I attended Motlow State Community College for a year and a half and I am now working to finish my under graduate in the pre med program here at MTSU. Although I have changed my major a few times I have finally decided to pursue a double major of biochemistry and sociology. I became interested in bioethics when I took my first sociology course called Medical Sociology. I really enjoyed the class as a whole but the bioethics portion sparked my interest enough to send me reading up on the topic on my own. Unfortunately I have never taken a philosophy course. I have only read individual's work on my own time, but I am very excited for this course. I feel those who wish to pursue a career in any field dealing with medicine, health care, and scientific research (just to name a few) should be educated in bioethics. It provides a whole new outlook on both the world and the individual, questions how the two effect each other, and allows you to view contemporary issues in a different light. I am taking this course not only because I believe my future career as a doctor should follow alongside the views of bioethics, but also because the topic (and philosophy as a whole) is enlightening to the mind and can help provide you with a more wholesome picture of what life can be.

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  4. My name is Thuy Huynh and I've graduated from MTSU in May of 2014 with a Biology degree. I came back to MTSU to take extra courses in science in order to prepare myself for the new MCAT. I enjoy reading on free time and I like hiking, watch soccer, play basketball and exercise. I wanted to take this class because I think it will be a very interesting course. As a pre-medical student I felt like medicine is not only about treating a patient and make them feel better then send them home. I think taking this course will open my mind about the ethical issues, and healthcare in medicine. So, this course not only help me to become a great doctor in the future but it will also help me understand the controversial issues in the real world relating to medicine and help me broaden my knowledge about other cultures and ethnicities. In my opinion drug is not the answer to everything but being able to understand someone else feelings and their backgrounds will help my diagnosis more precise and accurate. I also like class discussions, controversial topics and contemporary issues that happened around the world so this course will be very interesting to me.

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  5. My name is Wesley Riley, and I am currently a sophomore. As of right now, I am working towards a Biology degree and possibly a Chemistry degree with the hopes of one day going to medical school. One of the main reasons that I am taking this course is to further prepare myself for the MCAT and also because it sounds like an interesting course. Since I will someday be a scientist, I feel that I am somewhat obligated to understand the implications of my actions when I am experimenting, working on a patient, or doing whatever I may be doing within the next ten years; how my actions or ideas affect other people. If nothing else, I know that I can walk away from this class with a general understanding of what other people think of the topics that we will discuss, and that, in and of itself, is something worthwhile.

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  6. My name is Mason Riley, and I am a junior. I currently work in a biology lab at MTSU and hopefully will continue conducting research after I graduate. I plan on eventually getting a PhD and doing research as a career, specializing in genetics and possibly neurology. This class is very pertinent to my future plans, as any research involving humans will have potential pitfalls surrounding ethics, leading to the question of just how far is too far in science. I want to gain insight into the problems researchers must face today, and I believe that this class will provide just that.

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  7. My name is Awad Ghobrial, and I am a sophomore. I'm interested in a career in the medical field. I believe this course will help me learn controversial ethical issues emerging from new situations and possibilities brought about by advances in biology and medicine.

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  8. I am Andrew Nolin. I am a Junior here at MTSU, and I am working toward a biology degree. I volunteer at an ER, and I research Parkinson's disease with Dr. David Nelson. I hope to become a medical doctor. I was advised that this course would help me to prepare for the MCAT and my future career. As well as being advised to take this course, I am excited to share and broaden my ideas on ethics. Since my future will involve life and death decisions at some point, I think this class will help me to better understand the effects my decisions will have on the people I treat and their loved ones. Plus, I don't see a downside in having a better understanding of ethics.

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  9. Hey everybody! My name is Erika Butler and I am junior. I am a Chem pre-med major with a minor in anthropology. After I graduate I would like to go to medical school to become a medical examiner or a forensic anthropologist. I am in this course because of my career choice and because of how interesting the course sounded. I am really excited to see what this class has in store for me and what I am about to learn!

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  10. Hello, my name is Aimee Wilson. I am currently a freshman and I am pursuing a chemistry degree in the pre-med program. After I graduate with my bachelor's degree, I plan on going to medical school to become a pediatrician. I originally took this class to prepare for the MCAT, but after reading the syllabus and looking through a few of the texts books, I am now genuinely excited about what I will learn throughout the rest of this semester.

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  11. Hi, my name is Jin Kim and I am a senior here at MTSU taking my last semester. I am in the pre-med program majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry. My plans are to go to medical school and become a physician. I decided to take this class for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to prepare for the new topics on the 2015 MCAT and be exposed to ethics and issues in the medical field. Second, the class just seemed interesting to me. Seeing that it was a mixture of philosophy, ethics, and other related areas really caught my attention. I believe that this will be a very eye opening and thought provoking class, and I look forward to the interesting discussions.

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  12. Greetings! My name is John Holloway- I am a senior majoring in Psychology with minors in Neuroscience and Philosophy. I am taking this course for a number of reasons- one being my desire to enter the field of Clinical Health Psych, but with emphasis on transpersonal counseling and alternative healing modalities. As other folks have mentioned, I expect the the conversations to shed light on new frames of thought with regard to scientific research and medicine. I have had Dr. Oliver for 3 other classes and have found each of them to be highly engaging and constructive. Plus, I am very much looking forward to the texts for this semester!

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  13. Hey my name is Rory Capstick I am a Senior at MTSU. I am a pre-med student majoring in Genetics/Biotechnology and minoring in chemistry. My main reason for taking this class is to prepare for the new topics on the 2015 mcat. I am also interested in looking at biological and medical techniques and practices from an ethical standpoint. I look forward to what I can learn from this class.

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  14. As I previously said in class, I'm a future noble prize winner. My love for the medical field, in particular pioneering sciences, began in the tenth grade of high school. I fell in love instantly with genetics and the endless possibilities and discoveries certain fields in engineering sciences offer. I am a firm believer in that science is the pathway to opening doors into bettering ourselves as a race. With the ability to tweak and edit out undesired characteristics and diseases in ourselves, I am determined to be on the forefront of those enhancements and breakthroughs. With new technologies and techniques coming out seemingly every other day, there is not much else place to go but up so to speak.
    I am here because I find other students, and simply people in general, I find their opinions interesting. There are many pros and con's to the medical field, especially when conducting research. I come to this course with an open mind to the negatives, or downsides to the medical field, concerning ethics. I believe that, with good intention, certain people have a fear of change. With the ability to change a person, before birth or even on a molecular level, it can cause some individuals to discourage others from continuing such research or medical techniques. Being a particular fan of such questionable sciences, I believe I need to be more grounded. Every fence has two sides and in order to claim a holistic viewpoint one must know not just the side they favor, but also the side they do not endorse or simply have coinciding views with. Especially being in the bible belt, I believe this course will be useful in my search of understanding the "other side of the fence" so to speak.

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  15. My name is James Hayes, and I am probably the lone graduate student in the class. I had the option to take the grad level ethics course, but chose this one primarily because it advertised focus on the 2015 MCAT.

    I'll begin by stating a little bit about myself. I graduated from Siegel High School in 2007 as a Valedictorian and went to UT-Knoxville for my undergraduate degree. I ended up graduating in 2012 with a degree in Biomedical Engineering and had not yet decided upon a career; however, I had always strongly wanted to conduct medical research. This was my primary reason for pursuing a degree in BME. I found a job in surgery at Parkwest Hospital in Knoxville that I fell in love with, and decided to go back to school to pursue a career in medicine. Those steps lead me here at MTSU, where I am now conducting research under Dr. David Nelson and Dr. Erin McClelland.

    As I delve deeper into the research world, I am realizing how important it is to ask the right questions. This becomes especially relevant when discussing ethics or any other topics which concern morality. I am eager to see how this class will challenge my viewpoints and keep me open-minded to other perspectives. I am hoping to leave the class better prepared for the 2015 MCAT, but perhaps more importantly, better equipped to understanding empathy during interactions with other persons.

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  16. Good afternoon. My name is Erin Herbstova I am Junior here at MTSU. Like many of you I am Pre-Med I am currently undecided on a major though I am trying to decide between physics or biochemistry. I decided to enroll in this class for a few reasons one of which is that my advisors recommended it as preparation for the new 2015 MCAT. I think that this class will be beneficial and will help me gain a different perspective on medicine. If I want to not only be a physician but a successful one at that I think it is going to be important that I recognize that not everything is going to be hard core science. There are human, moral, and ethical components to the practice of medicine. I feel as though this class will give me a chance to not only voice my opinion on some hot topics but also provide me with the opportunity to understand and hear from other peoples points of view as well.

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  17. I'm Devin Atkins. I'm a physics major and after this semester I should be finished with a minor in mathematics and philosophy. I'm choosing to finish my philosophy minor with this course mostly out of curiosity for the subject. I find bioethics very interesting and hope it will lead to many great conversations. My mother is a nurse admin, so these topics have often popped up around the dinner table through my life.

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  18. Hi everyone, I’m Lauren. I am a third year biology student, with minors in chemistry and psychology. I have long been interested in biopsychology, and I am fortunate enough to be able to pursue a combination of programs relevant to that field. I hope to become a physician, and my experiences in research over the last year have led me to consider a career as a medical scientist. My current research projects involve movement disorders and C. neoformans pathogenesis.

    I think one of the most frustrating things for many scientists may be trying to communicate with the rest of society, which is mostly composed of people with little understanding of modern (or even well-established!) scientific knowledge. New advances are potentially hampered by fear and suspicion from the non-scientific community. All of us future doctors, for example, will need to be able to explain to concerned parents how the Gardasil vaccine works, and other new vaccines that will become available during our lifetimes. I hope this class will broaden my understanding of ethical issues in modern life science.

    I don’t think I’ve ever taken a class at MTSU with so many other aspiring doctors and researchers, so I’m looking forward to an interesting semester!

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  19. I'm Erin Davidson, I am a senior and graduating this summer. I'm a theatre major with a minor in philosophy. This is my last semester of "classes", but this summer I am touring a children's musical in Europe with the theatre dept. so I have to graduate in August. I am really excited about it and I actually went to Guatemala last summer to tour another children's musical I wrote with other theatre students. I'm very passionate about enriching the lives of children through music, dance, and performance.

    I was instantly interested in this class when I read about it. I am especially excited to hear the ideas and opinions of the medical students in the class, who have backgrounds in studying the topics we will discuss - since I really don't have any medical knowledge and I failed biology like, twice.

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  22. My name is Yvonne Ejorh. I am Nigerian-born. I am a senior at MTSU. My major is Biochemistry (Pre-Med) with a minor in Neuroscience. I am interested in getting my MD or MD/Ph.D.. I have done research related to both biology and chemistry. I am taking this class because I am very interested in topics relating to the medical field, and I want to learn more about the ethics of medicine. I believe this course will be beneficial to my aspirations of becoming a physician and scientist. I think that this course will broaden my knowledge about controversial issues relating to medicine, healthcare, and life. As a doctor, I do not want to, solely, treat the symptoms of the patient but also treat the patient as a whole. I want to be a source of hope to my community, and I want to make an impact in the world. I am happy to be in this class.

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  23. My name is Gregory de Roo. This is my final semester at MTSU. I am Pre-Med and am hoping to start medical school in '16. I am taking this class to gain a better understanding in Bioethics. Given the increasing rate of technological advance in the medical field, Bioethics is a field of study that will gain prominence in time. I am hoping that this course will assist me with the mcat, medical school, as well as with my career as a physician. Given my international background and my academic history in Law, I look forward to this class as well as what contrasting ideas and thoughts will transpire.

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  24. I'm Ramsey Ferguson. I first came to MTSU immediately following high school graduation in June 2014. I took Anatomy 1 & 2 in June and July with the intent of fulfilling my prereqs. for nursing school in the Fall and enrolling into the nursing program (if accepted) this semester. I loved studying the body, and really excelled in Anat. and Phys. which made me question what I needed and wanted to do. I had always entertained the idea of going to medical school, but was discouraged because of the time commitments, difficulty, etc. After researching it and talking to many people in the field I decided to change my major. I have always considered myself a "deep thinker", and I believe that I will get a lot out of this course.

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  25. Hi, I am Graham Porter. I am a Biology major, physics minor, with the Biology part leaning towards Ecology. I hope to someday work in a national park, or anywhere outside, doing research and/or protecting Mother Earth. This class interested me because my friends and I frequently "debate" scientific topics for hours on end. This class seemed like a good opportunity to further debate with my friends along with some new people for some fresh points of view.

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  26. I'm Cassandra Taylor. If my picture shows up by this, it won't help you to recognize me in class. I apologize for the deception. This is a little late, but I'm doing it just on the off chance some one might read it. I'm an English major with a concentration in writing, with minors in philosophy and psychology. I took this class to explore the way to see if the root of morals are bound by the collective realization of our own mortality, not just within the life and death circumstances people of the medical field may face. Really, I'm interested to see how every instance is really a life/death circumstance to the individual and how that plays on the root of what we hold to be virtuous and moral.

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