Entry requirements

Fulfilment of the requirements for a Bachelor's degree in the humanities

Learning outcomes

After completing the course the students are expected to be able to:

• describe and explain various pressing ethical controversies and some of the influential arguments on either side of those controversies
• recognize the ways in which philosophical arguments concerning particular ethical issues can shed light on more general moral theories and principles
• analyze and critically engage with contemporary philosophical essays and arguments with clarity and precision, both orally and in writing
• develop cogent philosophical arguments of their own and to compose longer and increasingly original analytical essays that offer constructive responses to ongoing philosophical debates.

Content

This course provides an advanced survey of contemporary issues in bioethics. Students will be introduced to a variety of ethical issues and questions arising in health care and the biological sciences, as well as with emerging technologies. Topics include the moral status of animals, personhood at the margins of life, euthanasia and suicide, the nature of health and well-being, disability and mental illness, autonomy and addiction, paternalism and manipulation, genetic engineering and human enhancement, and the allocation of scarce medical resources. The focus throughout will be on moral questions and how decisions in these domains should be made.

Instruction

Lectures and discussion seminars. The lecture-style will be thoroughly interactive. Students are expected to participate and contribute.

Assessment

Two short writing assignments to be completed during the course, and a longer writing assignment of about 3000 words at the end of the course.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.