How do we confront and think critically about difficult ethical questions we all encounter in our daily, personal and professional lives? As biomedical advances have extended the realm of possibilities, how do we grapple with the moral and ethical quandaries of living and birth?

“Bioethics of Life” applies the ethical insights of philosophy to issues in life, bioethics, and medicine in an introductory way. Technological advances in health care made it possible to begin biological life in new ways. As patients, their families, physicians and clergy are drawn into the beginning-of-life decision-making process, it becomes clear that more philosophical work needed to be done to provide guidance in these situations. 

Students will learn to read philosophy articles critically, as well as discovering how different philosophers have approached ethical issues and applied them to prominent debates in bioethics. The course will examine the major ethical theories on what is morally right and wrong, and the meaning of moral concepts. Focus,  however,  is upon ethical problems associated with the practice of medicine and biomedical research. 

Join us for an eight-week OlioCourse, exploring applied ethics and philosophy, as they relate to birth and living. We’ll draw on diverse media – poetry, philosophical inquiry, fiction, storytelling, and film to form our own ethical standards through collective research and public speaking.

Introducing OlioCourses

This OlioCourse will take place on Tuesday evenings starting on March 30th and continue for 8 weeks. We will alternate each week between a recorded lecture from Jeanne Proust and then meet the following week via zoom for a live session where we dissect, question, and build upon the previous lecture.

You will have an entire week to digest the recorded content and come up with your thoughts and questions for the live session. The questions of the participants will structure the meetings, instead of being reduced to the common 10-15min Q&As at the end of a lecture.

What to expect from the course:

• Upon signing up, you will be mailed an Olio coursebook via USPS that includes printouts of carefully selected texts by thinkers we will be studying throughout the curriculum.
• Four lectures recorded by professor Proust emailed to you every other Tuesday. 
• Four live Olios led by the professor to explore questions, discuss challenges to the theories presented to you, and dig deeper. 
• Four happy-hour virtual meetings with other participants. Jeanne will present leading questions about the lecture and readings for the group to discuss on their own. 

Participants will be able to engage on their own time with the pre-recorded lectures and curated materials (readings, podcast links, interviews, and film).  These will be used as the fuel for the live Zoom discussions with the professor.

Participants are encouraged to come up with thoughts and questions to bring forth in the live sessions. Think of this as your chance for extended q&a with the professor.

Our Curriculum: Birthing

WEEK 1: ABORTION 

The ontological and moral status of the Unborn

Pro-Life Arguments (Against Abortion)

Pro-Choice Arguments (For Abortion)

Scarlet A, Katie Watson, Abortion Storytelling

Judith Jarvis Thomson, A Defense of Abortion- Answered by Philippa Foot (in Killing and Letting Die) 

WEEK 2: CLONING

Therapeutic and reproductive cloning

WEEK 3: EUGENICS AND HUMAN GENETICS- ENHANCEMENT

Arthur Caplan, What is immoral about Eugenics

Julian Savulescu, Procreative Beneficence
Michael J. Sandel, The Case against Perfection 

WEEK 4: PROCREATION

Laura M. Purdy, Can Having Children Be Immoral?

Surrogate motherhood
Parents and Genetic Information 

The Format: 

The live discussions will take a spontaneous shape - i.e the professor will not adhere to a preconceived strict plan, rather, she will allow space for the participants to direct what they would like to learn about. In other words, with the provided materials, and the clarifying guidance of the professor, each participant will make the best of online live meetings, now conceived as participative platforms to strengthen and deepen understanding while remaining conversation-based. 

The questions of the participants will structure the meetings, instead of being reduced to the common 10-15min Q&As at the end of a lecture. The meetings will basically shape themselves as the questions go, requiring improvisation, critical thinking and flexibility all based on the participant inquiries! 

*If funds are an issue for you at the moment, please feel free to reach out so we can do our best to accommodate*