Syllabus

[The syllabus is subject to revision. Always consult the "Next" section in the upper right corner of our Home Page, for recent changes and other announcements.]

PHILOSOPHY 3345 Bioethics                                                                                
Spring 2022
4:20-5:45 pm, JUB 202
Dr. Phil Oliver, phil.oliver@mtsu.edu - 898-2050, 898-2907 (philosophy dept.), 525-7865.

OFFICE HOURS: TTh 11-12:30 & by appointment, MWF 4-5 by appt. via Zoom. James Union Building 300 (but check the message board on my door on "nice" days and at lunchtime, or maybe call first ). I answer emails mostly during office hours, never on weekends. Best way to secure a quick response: call or come in during office hours.

  • Bioethics: The Basics (Campbell) ”...the word ‘bioethics’ just means the ethics of life…”
  • Beyond Bioethics (Obasogie) “Bioethics’ traditional emphasis on individual interests such as doctor-patient relationships, informed consent, and personal autonomy is minimally helpful in confronting the social and political challenges posed by new human biotechnologies…”
  • The Premonition (Lewis) "The characters you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected. A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public-health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society..."
  • Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health (Wen) “Public health saved your life today—you just don’t know it” is a phrase that Dr. Leana Wen likes to use. You don’t know it because good public health is invisible. It becomes visible only in its absence, when it is underfunded and ignored, a bitter truth laid bare as never before by the devastation of COVID-19.
  • Each student will also choose and report on additional relevant texts pertaining to pandemics and public health, thus enabling us to extend our study of the field by “crowd-sourcing” many more of the crucial issues it raises.

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IMPORTANT DATES Spring 2022

  • January 18 – Classes Begin (Tuesday after MLK, Jr. Day)

  • February 8 - assign midterm report topics

  • February 15 - midterm report presentations begin

  • March 3 - Exam 1

  • March 7-12 – Spring Break

  • March 29 - assign final report topics

  • April 5 - final report presentations begin

  • April 27 – Last class, Exam 2

  • April 28 – Study Day, No Classes/Exams/Mandatory Meetings

  • April 29 - Final blogpost due (post earlier for constructive feedback)

  • May 5 – Last day of Term

  • May 8 – 11:59 p.m. Deadline for Submission of Final Grades

JAN

18. Introductions. Post your response to these questions, interpreted any way you like: Who are you? Why are you here? What do you think Philosophy has to do with Bioethics? What ethical/philosophical issues related to the pandemic occur to you? Do you have an easily-summarized personal philosophy? (Maybe something short like Charlie Brown's sister Sally's?--"No!")


20 What is Bioethics? (Basics 1); Premonition Intro/prologue/1


25 Moral Theories (Basics 2); Premonition Premonition 2


27 Perspectives (Basics 3); Premonition 3


FEB

1 Clinical Ethics (Basics 4); Premonition 4


3 Research (Basics 5); Premonition 5


8 Justice (Basics 6); Premonition 6; Assign midterm report topics 


10 Beyond Bioethics Foreword, Introduction, 1; Premonition 7


15 Beyond 2-3; Premonition 8 Midterm report presentations begin.


17  Beyond 4-6; Premonition 9


22 Beyond 7-8; Premonition 10 


24 Beyond 9-12; Premonition 11/epilogue


MAR

1 Beyond __; Lifelines __


3 Beyond __; Lifelines __; EXAM 1


SPRING BREAK


15 Beyond 13-15; Lifelines Prolog-1


17 Beyond 16-17; Lifelines 2-3


22 Beyond 18-20; Lifelines __


24 Beyond 21-22; Lifelines __


29 Beyond 23-27; Lifelines __. Assign final report topics.


31 Beyond 28-31; Lifelines __


APR

5 Beyond 32-34; Lifelines __


7 Beyond 35-36; Lifelines __


12 Beyond 37-39; Lifelines __


14 Beyond 40-42; Lifelines __


19 Beyond 43-50 Lifelines __


21 Beyond 51-54; Lifelines __


26 Last class. Exam 2 (NOTE: Exam 2  is not a "final exam," it is the exam covering material since Exam 1.)


29 Final blogposts due (post early draft for constructive feedback)

EXAMS. Two objective-format exams based on daily questions, each worth up to 25 points.


REPORTS. Midterm presentation & posted summary (10 minute presentation, 250+ word summary, with sources and two discussion questions), final presentation & blog post (10 min, 1,000+ word post. Worth up to 25 points each.


PARTICIPATION. Participation includes attendance, your full and attentive presence in class, and posts, comments (etc.) to our CoPhi site prior to each class. No points formally allotted, but steady participation earns strong consideration for a higher final grade. (Hypothetically, for instance: say you earned a total of 88 points (of a possible 100) on the exams and reports. If you did not participate consistently and well, your course grade would be B+. If you did, it would be A.)


SCORECARDS. Because your professor is a baseball fan, we'll track participation with baseball scorecards adapted to the purpose. Come to class to get on 1st base. Post a pertinent comment or question for discussion prior to class to advance to 2d base. Same to move to 3d. To come home, post a pertinent research discovery, something we wouldn't have known from the day's assigned reading. Good places for quick online research include the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Philosophical Dictionary, and the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. We'll learn about more when we visit the library (or they visit us...stay tuned).



(For instance, when we discuss Socrates you might post the comment that you think his version of enlightened ignorance -- "I know that I know nothing" etc. -- seems more humble than Plato's confident assertion of the possibility of rationally understanding the ultimate structure of reality, "Forms" etc. You might also pose the discussion question "Do you think Socrates should have taken the opportunity to escape Athens before his death sentence was imposed?" And you might share your discovery that Socrates seemed to have a higher opinion of women than most of his companions had, speaking of “men and women,” “priests and priestesses,” and naming foreign women as his teachers: Socrates claimed to have learned rhetoric from Aspasia of Miletus, the de facto spouse of Pericles (Plato, Menexenus); and to have learned erotics from the priestess Diotima of Mantinea (Plato, Symposium). --Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Socrates"


Keep a detailed and dated log of your posts and comments, appended to your last post each week. Always include your section # (6 or 9, this semester) with your posts.

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"Solvitur ambulando"... the art of walking


A NOTE ON THE BLOG POST FORMAT: Midterm & final report blog posts should include appropriately-bloggish content: not just words, but also images, links, videos where relevant, etc.


A NOTE ON WORD COUNTS. 250 and 1,000 are minimums. Write more, if you've got more to say. Write a tome, if you've got one in you. But your main goal in writing for our course is always to be clear, to say what you mean, and to say things your classmates (and I) will want to respond to. Think of your weekly blog posts not as "papers" but as contributions to a conversation. And again, do think of them as blog posts, with links, graphics, videos. etc.

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Title IX

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Writing Center



The Margaret H. Ordoubadian University Writing Center serves all MTSU students, from freshmen to PhD candidates, on writing from any discipline, and in any genre. [website...] We have a brand new  digital class visit, a brief introduction to the UWC, which can be embedded in any D2L shell for your students.  


Tutoring sessions begin August 24th, and this semester, students will have two choices for online writing support: ​

  • ​Live Chat: students to use their mic and camera and meet tutors in real time to work on a shared document; 

  • Document Drop: students upload their text and assignment sheet, identify specific feedback needs, and receive tutor feedback through email. 


​We also support writers through course-specific or assignment-specific workshops. The UWC administrative team has worked closely with faculty in diverse programs and departments, such as Biology, Anthropology, and Professional Studies, to create workshops and writing support for students in those courses. Please email Erica Cirillo-McCarthy, Director of the UWC, at erica.cirillo-mccarthy@mtsu.edu if you are interested in talking about ways the UWC can support writers in your class.