PHIL 165.002 – Bioethics

Instructor: Eric Sampson. This course meets MWF 10:10 – 11:00 a.m. in PH 385.

Bioethicists study, among other things, moral questions concerning the beginning and end of life, the general practice of medicine, and the development of health care policy. These questions are often both theoretically challenging and practically important: Is abortion ever morally permissible? What about physician-assisted suicide? Is there anything wrong with genetically enhancing a child to be extraordinarily intelligent, athletic, or beautiful? When (if ever) are doctors morally permitted to deceive their patients? Should organ donors be allowed to sell transplantable organs? What are our duties to animals? Is it permissible to subject them to incredible suffering if doing so helps us develop medicines for humans? In this course, we’ll try to think through these thorny questions and more.