Transcript Unit II. Stem Cell Research

Unit II. Ethics:
Home and Family
Odyssey: UNIV 300I
Fall 2006
Interrelated topics:
examples of the issues in bioethics
we all face or will face in our lives

Stem Cell Research

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Living organ donation
How should we reason?




Kantian respect for persons
Utilitarian concern for results: greatest
happiness for the greatest number
Warnock: intuition vs. good reasoning
Public vs. private morality
Central question:
what is a “person”?

Biological: homo sapiens

Ethical: moral agent

Political: legal recognition
Warnock:
When does human life begin?




When does an embryo become morally significant?
What status should be accorded to the early
embryo?
What is the relationship of facts from science to
value questions?
What is “acceptable” for public morality?
End of life: euthanasia

What is “natural”?

What is “voluntary”?

Is there a right to die with dignity?

Is there a moral obligation never to
terminate a life under any circumstances?
“The Ethics of Stem Cell
Research” by Gene Outka

Structure of argument and reasoning

Spell out all options and critique



Critique: has he presented all sides fairly?
Has he articulated support and objections
fairly?
Are there “strawmen” in his arguments?
Recurring ethical
controversies
1.
2.
3.
4.
Status of embryo and aborted fetus
Complicity: responsibility for the ethics of the
action taken or not taken
Alternative research on adult stem cells
Political and legal contexts: how should research
be organized, financed, overseen
Outka: right, left, middle


Meaning of labels “right” “left” “middle”
What is relevant in public policy
decision-making?



“acceptable” vs. “right”?
Religious dogma?
Public vs. private?
Outka’s principles to assist
reasoning

Potentiality vs. actuality

“Nothing is lost”

Other principles?