- Inter-faculty Studies in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Computer Science
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Mathematics
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Computer Science
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Mathematics
Bioethics, law, and film 3501-BPF18-S-OG
The course is intended to acquaint students with the cinematic form of addressing controversial bioethical issues in the public debate and to confront it with the philosophical and legal treatments of those issues. The topics include: human dignity, the experience of illness, normalcy, sexual identity, abortion, aging, and terminal care. These topics will be discussed from the ethical and legal points of view. For each session students will read assigned literature: one presenting an ethical perspective and the other presenting a legal point of view on a given topic. After a film presentation, discussion will follow.
Type of course
general courses
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Knowledge:
The student knows:
- bioethical terminology appropriate for the topics discussed during the seminar;
- the potentials and limitations of various forms of expressions on controversial bioethical issues;
- has systematic specialist knowledge of the key philosophical positions and ethical and legal views on, and argumentative strategies advanced in the context of, the topics discussed during the seminar;
- understands the role of ethics and law and alternative forms of expression regarding controversial bioethical issues;
- understands the significance of diversity of forms of expression regarding controversial bioethical issues.
Skills:
The student can:
- analyze critically various forms of expression on the topics discussed during the seminar and the views of other authors
- interpret cinematic production regarding controversial bioethical issues
- identifies, interprets and analyzes ethical problems discussed in the philosophical and legal literature and in film;
- creates advanced level argumentation, selects normative and factual arguments; responds to criticism;
- writes critical analyses of the topics covered in the course;
Social skills:
Student can:
- appreciate the value of the diversity of the forms of expression for the development of knowledge and solutions of bioethical dilemmas;
- cooperate in a group assuming various roles;
- initiates research by planning them and their conduct;
- plan and execute research activities with diligence, resolution, and commitment;
- appreciates the significance of different forms of expression for the development of biological and medical knowledge.
Assessment criteria
Activity in class (60%), essay (40%).
Bibliography
Bury, Mike. 2001. Illness narratives: fact or fiction? Sociology of Health and Illness 23 (3):263-285.
Elliott, Carl. 1999. You are what you are afflicted by: pathology, authenticity and identity. W: A philosophical disease : bioethics, culture, and identity, xxxvi, 188 p. New York: Routledge.
Hołówka, Teresa. 2010. O aborcji "sine ira et studio". Etyka 43:143-149.
Kass, Leon R. 2003. Ageless Bodies, Happy Souls: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Perfection. The New Atlantis 1 (Spring):9-28.
Kittay, Eva Feder. 2011. The Ethics of Care, Dependence, and Disability. Ratio Juris 24 (1):49-58.
Krag, E. 2014. Rich, white, and vulnerable: rethinking oppressive socialization in the euthanasia debate. J Med Philos 39 (4):406-429.
Martin, Emily. 1991. The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 16 (3):485-501.
Portmann, J. 1999. Abortion: three rival versions of suffering. Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees 8 (4):489-497.
Waldron, Jeremy. 2012. Dignity, rank, and rights. New York: Oxford University Press.
Additional information
Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:
- Inter-faculty Studies in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Computer Science
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Mathematics
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Computer Science
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Mathematics
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: