HPSC10002015 Syllabus
HPSC10002015 Syllabus
HPSC1000: Bioethics
HPSC1900: Bioethics (Advanced)
Associate Prof. Dominic Murphy, Coordinator
OVERVIEW
Bioethics examines the ethical and political dimensions of medicine and the biological
sciences, and explores the issues and possibilities raised by rapid technological changes in
these fields. These sciences have enormous impacts in the contemporary world and
contribute a heady mix of excitement, fear and controversy to the public sphere. This course
will give you a way of entering the bioethical debates surrounding these fields and
grappling with the issues raised. It aims to give you the intellectual and practical skills to
contribute to discussions on topical issues both in bioethics and beyond.
The course will begin by looking at some of the age-old conceptual underpinnings of
bioethics such as personhood, autonomy and rights, which are used broadly in debates on
abortion, euthanasia and other controversial topics. From this, we look more directly at
practical issues that are controversial today: abortion, the genetic selection and modification
of children, euthanasia, human cloning and stem cell research. In the latter half of the
course, we look at big picture issues relating to the development and progress of
biomedicine: research on humans and non-human animals and justice in health care.
Given that bioethics is the most developed area of ethics applied to science, and that there
are parallels between ethical issues in biology and other sciences, this UOS may appeal to
those who are interested in sciences other than biology, as well as to non-science students
with general interests in exploring social issues and philosophy.
The course does not assume any scientific background beyond School Certificate level. This
UOS provides an excellent grounding for intermediate HPS and senior HPSC UOS on
science and ethics, as well as for future work in science or arts subjects. It provides a broad
understanding of the public context of more technically oriented units of study in the
sciences.
COORDINATOR:
Dominic Murphy
Email: [email protected]
Room: Carslaw 385
Office Consultation Hours: Monday 1-4pm, or by appointment, or call and drop by
(023953612)
CLASS MEETINGS
Lectures: Monday, 10-11am: Wallace Theatre
Tuesday: 10-11am: Eastern Avenue Auditorium
Wednesday: 10-11am: Wallace Theatre
TUTORIALS:
You will be assigned to a tutorial. They begin in week 2. You must attend 10 of
the remaining 12 unless you have a medical excuse or personal emergency. If you cannot
make a tutorial you must inform your tutor and try to find an alternative. Attending at least
80% of tutorials is mandatory. Dont say we didnt tell you. If you spend your time online or
texting or otherwise ignoring the tutor, your attendance will not count. Make sure you learn
your tutors name and contact details.
EMAIL
It is your responsibility to regularly check your University of Sydney email account or
establish a forwarding address on the Sydney system, because this is the primary means of
contact for us with you and more generally for the University about your unit of study. If
something goes wrong for you because you have not accessed your university email account
you will not be excused.
Also be sure to check into WebCT regularly for class announcements.
Any topic that involves highly contested ethical issues inevitably invites discussion
and disagreement. To participate in this class it is important that all discussions are
conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect. This course is designed to help you
explore your beliefs and their contexts, make you aware of alternative points of view,
and alert you to the potential dangers of having too much certainty about your ideas
and their frames of reference regarding the issues being examined. Discussions can
be challenging and respectful, and being alert to maintaining that balance is essential.
Unanimity, or even consensus, is not expected.
The University Code of Conduct prohibits any harassment, bullying or other
treatment by another student, inside or outside class, that makes it harder for you to
study or interferes with your education. This includes cyberbullying or unwelcome
texting. If you are being harassed, you should immediately let the unit co-ordinator
know, and we advise you to lodge a formal complaint.
PROBLEMS
If you have any problems regarding this unit of study which you feel you cannot
discuss with academic staff involved with teaching the course, please contact the
HPS administrator, who can put you in touch with other members of staff. If you
believe that your work has been graded unfairly or otherwise improperly, you should
in the first instance contact Dr. Murphy. Please do not do this over email: come to
office hours, and bring a copy of the essay together with a written statement
explaining what you see as the problems. If you are still unhappy, the work can be
remarked by another member of the HPS staff.
Assessment:
Assessment for this UOS is based on three papers, of 1250 words per paper, weighted
equally. All materials will be submitted online on the dates outlined in the schedule below.
Late essays will be penalized at 2.5% per day: i.e a paper that is ten days late will lose 25%.
(note this is percentage of your grade, not points)
The penalty will apply in the absence of a special consideration. Anything more than ten
days late will be marked pass/fail only. Unsubmitted work will get a zero.
You cannot pass the Unit if you fail more than one essay, regardless of your marks:
Due Dates:
Paper 1 due: 5 pm April 2nd
Paper 2 due: 5 pm May 8th
Paper 3 due: 5 pm June 8th
For information on texts, grading standards, plagiarism etc, see the section after the
schedule (below).
SCHEDULE:
WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION TO BIOETHICS AND TO THE COURSE (2nd March)
John Harris, 1986 The Survival Lottery in P. Singer (ed) Applied Ethics
(Oxford); 87-96
(20th April)
about Human Cloning, ed. Martha Nussbaum and Cass Sunstein, New
York: WW Norton, 141-164
READINGS
Required Reading
1) Unit Reader, available from the University Print office. All students should
buy a copy of the reader. Some readings may be made available on e-reserve,
accessible through the library website.
2) Choosing Children, by Jonathan Glover. Available at the bookstore. Glover also
has a useful website: jonathanglover.co.uk
The reading for each week should be done in advance of your lecture and
tutorial, in order to allow you to participate fully in discussions and exercises.
You should bring a copy of the assigned readings with you to tutorials.
There are two recommended texts for the unit. You DO NOT have to buy these
books.
1) If you do not have a background in science, you may find this book useful:
Scott F. Gilbert, Anna L. Tyler, and Emily J. Zackin, Bioethics and the New
Embryology: Springboards for Debates (Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates,
2005). It provides good summaries of the science in many of the issues we
discuss. If you already have a working knowledge of human biology, you may
not need to consult this book. There are copies available in the bookstore.
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Come to the lectures! Powerpoints will be posted online, but material will be
presented in lectures beyond that which is included in the readings.
Remember that philosophy is an activity done via discussion and debate, and
learning requires active participation. Accordingly, class attendance and
discussion especially in tutorials - is critical. Your grade will suffer if you do
not participate. If there is something you dont understand, ask a question.
Shy people may find this an ordeal, but you must do your best to learn to
speak up, which is important at university. If you need to, you may come and
discuss issues with Dr. Murphy, or with your tutor, if you feel unable to raise
your voice in class. Everyone is expected to engage respectfully with their
colleagues in class. Ridiculing or attempting to silence your fellow students is
not permissible, but respectful criticism is encouraged.
All assessments will be assigned and submitted via the website. You will get
information on this when your first essay is assigned. You will receive
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electronic confirmation when you submit work and comments on your work
will be available on WebCT when it is graded. Please do not submit your
work as hard copies in class, by mailing or faxing it to the University, or
sliding it under an office door. The HPS Unit takes no responsibility for work
submitted in these ways! There are NO extensions for submission of your
written assignments. The only exceptions are for documented reasons as
outlined in the Units Special Consideration Policy according to the guidelines
of the Faculty and the University; it is your responsibility to make yourself
familiar with the procedures you must follow to pursue a special
consideration. If such circumstances arise, the Unit for HPS recommends that
you NOT submit work that is substandard or sit a test under adverse
conditions, but that you apply for an extension through the special
considerations process.
Guidelines on Marking
The Unit for HPS follows the Faculty of Science and University guidelines in
awarding a determined percentage of each grade. The Unit may scale marks
in order to fit these grade distributions; please note that all grades on
returned work are raw marks.
For a qualitative description of the marks awarded in our Units of Study, and
a guide to what is expected of you at each marking level, see:
http://www.usyd.edu.au/hps/undergraduate/general.shtml
If deliberate plagiarism is detected, you will receive a zero for the piece of work. You
can also be referred to the university registrar. To avoid this please bear in mind
when you submit work that:
1. Direct quotations should be in quotation marks, with reference to the source,
including page numbers.
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Here is an example of what is, and what is not, plagiarism, prepared by Dr. Richard
Dennis of the Geography Department, University College London.
CLASS STRUGGLE
1. The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Society
as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great
classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. Masses of labourers,
crowded into the factory, are organised like soldiers. Not only are they slaves of the
bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois State; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the
machine, by the overlooker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer
himself. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to
win.
THIS IS PLAGIARISM. THERE IS NO ATTEMPT TO INDICATE THAT THESE
ARE NOT RICHARD DENNIS'S OWN THOUGHTS BUT ARE WORDS TAKEN
DIRECT FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO.
2. Marx and Engels noted that the history of all hitherto existing society had been the
history of class struggles. Society as a whole was more and more splitting up into
two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie
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and Proletariat. They observed that proletarians had nothing to lose but their chains.
They had a world to win.
THIS IS STILL PLAGIARISM. ALTHOUGH THE IDEAS ARE ATTRIBUTED TO
MARX AND ENGELS, THERE IS NO INDICATION THAT THE FORM OF
WORDS IS NOT RICHARD DENNIS'S. JUST CHANGING IT INTO THE PAST
TENSE DOESN'T MAKE IT ORIGINAL.
3. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels (1973 edn., p. 40) noted that 'The
history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles'. They argued
that society was 'more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two
great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat' (p. 41). 'Masses
of labourers, crowded into the factory' were 'organised like soldiers ... slaves of the
bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois State' (p. 52). They concluded that 'The
proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win' (p. 96).
THIS IS NOT PLAGIARISM, BUT IF ALL YOUR ESSAY CONSISTS OF IS A SET
OF QUOTATIONS STITCHED TOGETHER, IT DOESN'T SUGGEST THAT YOU
HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT OR UNDERSTOOD THE CONTENTS OF THE
QUOTATIONS. SO RICHARD DENNIS WOULDN'T EARN VERY MANY
MARKS FROM ME FOR THIS EFFORT!
4. In one of the most famous first sentences ever written, Marx and Engels (1973 edn.,
p 40) began The Communist Manifesto thus: 'The history of all hitherto existing
society is the history of class struggles.' They went on to exemplify this claim by
showing how the structure of society had, in their view, developed into two
interdependent but antagonistic classes: bourgeoisie and proletariat. The latter
comprised factory operatives, who had been reduced to no more than slave labour;
but as they became concentrated geographically, in the great factory towns of the
industrial revolution, so they had the opportunity to organise themselves politically.
Hence, the authors' conclusion that a communist revolution was not only desirable,
but possible, leading them to issue their equally famous final exhortation (p. 96):
'WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!'
THIS MAY NOT BE A VERY PROFOUND COMMENTARY, BUT AT LEAST ITS
NOT PLAGIARISED!
Bibliographical References
Each piece of writing you produce should contain references to the works that you
discuss or rely on. Your references should enable the reader to identify these sources
with no scope for error. There are two basic approaches to references. One approach
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is to include full references in footnotes to the relevant passages of the text. The other
is to include a bibliography at the end of the text with full references and to refer to
these items in the relevant passages of the text using some systematic convention.
You should use the second of these approaches (bibliography and in-text references)
for your academic work.
There are many different systems in use for formatting bibliographies and references.
You should feel free to use any of the standard systems. Here is a description of one
of the most widely used systems.
Journal article:
Wright, L, 1976. Functions. Philosophical Review 85: 70-86.
i.e. Author's surname [comma] author's initials [with full stops] year of publication
[full stop] article title in single quotes [full stop] journal title in italics followed by
volume number [colon] page numbers.
Authored book:
Quine, W. V. 1960. Word & Object. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.
i.e. Author's surname [comma] author's initials [with full stops] year of publication
[full stop] book title in italics [full stop] place of publication [colon] publisher.
Editors, translators and edition can also be indicated after the book title, where
relevant.
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Edited collection:
Lepore, E. ed. 1986. Truth & Interpretation: Perspectives on the Philosophy of Donald
Davidson. Oxford: Blackwell.
i.e. like authored books, but adding 'ed.' after editor's name and initials (or 'eds.' if
there's more than one).
Article in collection:
Quine, W. V. 1975. 'Mind & Verbal Dispositions'. In S. Guttenplan, ed. Mind &
Language. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
i.e. Author's surname [comma] author's initials [with full stops] year of publication
[full stop] article title in single quotes [full stop] [In] Editor's initials [full stop]
editor's surname [comma] [ed. or eds., if more than one] book title in italics [full
stop] place of publication [colon] publisher.
If the article had already been published prior to the collection you are citing, replace
'In' with 'Reprinted in'.
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