PHIL 365 Syllabus

Fall 2013

Instructor: W. Russ Payne PhD.

E-mail: wpayne@bellevuecollege.edu

Phone: (425) 564-2079    

Office location: B100E

Course location: B101

Course time: Thursday 8:00 – 12:00

Item no: 4296

Office Hours: Tuesday 10:30 – 12:30 and Thursday 12:00 - 12:30

Website: http://facweb.bcc.ctc.edu/wpayne/

Philosophy department’s web site:  http://bellevuecollege.edu/philosophy/

Course Information

This is an upper division applied ethics course focusing on biomedical issues. Ethics, as a branch of philosophical inquiry, is not just concerned with what we ought or ought not do and how we should or shouldn’t structure our societies and social institutions. It is primarily concerned with why we should act in this way or that and adopt this institutional practice or another. You will get instruction in professional codes of ethical behavior and acceptable procedures and practices throughout your training. Here we get to critically examine these and other ethical issues with a eye to better understanding how and why these are justified, or, if they are justifiable at all.

This course will begin with an introduction to philosophical methods and ethical theory in general. We will examine a variety of general philosophies of right and wrong, good and bad and also how philosophers approach inquiry into and evaluation of these. We will then spend the remainder of the quarter investigating how these general ethical frameworks bear on a range of biomedical issues. Sometimes we will be concerned with relatively general matters like the patient/provider relationship, the ideal role of nurses or access to health care. Often we will be interested in fairly specific practices like physician assisted suicide, stem cell research and related therapies or reproductive technologies and abortion. My goal will be to introduce you to important original thinkers on a broad range of issues and to give you ample opportunity to delve in greater detail into topics you find interesting.

 Books and Materials Required

Biomedical Ethics, 7^th edition preferred, Degrazia, Mappes and Brand-Ballard eds. McGraw Hill pub.

Additional materials will be posted on the course Canvas site

Course Outcomes

The official outcomes for this course are as follows:

• Demonstrate knowledge of ethical theories by explaining ethical principles and the philosophical arguments that bear on them. Students will be asked to do this both in writing essay exams and in original research papers, and discussion.

• Apply ethical principles to a broad range of biomedical issues. Students will demonstrate this ability in short writing assignments and/or essay exams.

• Recognize and develop strategies for dealing with varying cultural perspectives on ethical issues through, for example, class discussions of cases involving intercultural interactions between patients and care providers.

• Apply ethical principles in detailed studies of particular cases. Students will write a 10-12 page case-study research paper evaluating ethical positions in connection with specific case studies.

• Evaluate arguments for and against proposed solutions to ethical dilemmas in the practice of medicine and biological research. Students will demonstrate this ability in writing and in class presentations and discussion.

Course Requirements

This will be a hybrid course with an online component. We will meet 11 times over the course of the quarter for 3 hours on each Thursday. Your attendance is expected at each of these meetings. While some absences are truly unavoidable, do your best to make it to each class meeting as we don’t have many to begin with.

Required work for the class will include two in class essay exams and a research paper. There will also be a required online component that will consist of posting one page response papers to weekly readings and participating in online discussion of these. Your grade in the course will be based, in roughly equal proportions, on these four components: the midterm essay exam, the final essay exam, the research paper and the online response papers and discussion.

Weekly meetings and work will follow a fairly standard pattern. Towards the end of our Thursday meeting, readings for the following week will be introduced with a brief lecture. You will have the weekend to do the reading and write up a short response paper that outlines the views and arguments, raises questions to delve into further or offers objections and further argument. These short weekly write ups on the readings must be posted on the Monday before our next meeting. Tuesday and Wednesday will be online discussion days. Here you can offer comments or raise questions about fellow student’s response papers. Then our Thursday meeting will begin with an in person seminar where we can all discuss the readings and our various questions, interpretations and objections. So you will typically get several passes in which to develop your understanding of various views and argument and to formulate your thoughts on the issues raised.  

Classroom Learning Atmosphere

Instructor’s Expectation

Maintaining a good learning environment will be your responsibility as well as mine.  Philosophy is best learned through actively engaging in discussion of the issues.  You may have strong feelings about some of the issues we will discuss.  This is fine and it will present no problem so long as we all make respect for each other a guiding principle of our inquiry.  While the experience will be new to many of you, talking about the existence of God or the nature of morality with people that disagree with you can actually be fun. Keep in mind that what matters most in philosophy is that we do a good job at evaluating the reasons for and against the views we consider.  And we can do a good job at this quite independent of our feelings about those views.  That we all end up agreeing is not essential to a fruitful philosophical dialogue.  That we are amicable and gracious towards one another is.

I take a dim view of cheating and plagiarism. Write your own stuff.  I have a duty to report cheating, plagiarism and other conduct that is destructive to the course to administration and student services.  I would appreciate not having to act on that duty.

Student Concerns

Should you have concerns about any aspect of the class, I invite you to bring them to me. In any of your classes, if for any reason you don’t feel comfortable speaking with your instructor, the usual next step would be to talk with the program chair. Since I am the program chair for philosophy, if for any reason you don’t feel comfortable raising your concerns with me, you can bring concerns about this class to the Arts and Humanities Division Dean, Maggie Harada (maggie.harada@bellevuecollege.edu) or the Assistant Dean, Scott Bessho (scott.bessho@bellevuecollege.edu) in the Arts and Humanities division office (R230).   An additional resource for concerns you find aren’t being addressed by faculty or administration is the Ombuds Office: (http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/ombuds/default.html).

Affirmation of Inclusion

Bellevue College is committed to maintaining an environment in which every member of the campus community feels welcome to participate in the life of the college, free from harassment and discrimination.

We value our different backgrounds at Bellevue College, and students, faculty, staff members, and administrators are to treat one another with dignity and respect. http://bellevuecollege.edu/about/goals/inclusion.asp

Division Statements

You should also the Arts and Humanities Expectations posted here: http://bellevuecollege.edu/artshum/policy.html

Information about Bellevue Colleges copyright guidelines can be found at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/lmc/links/copyright.html

A good  resource for Plagiarism is the Writing Lab:  http://bellevuecollege.edu/writinglab/Plagiarism.html

Student Code

“Cheating, stealing and plagiarizing (using the ideas or words of another as one’s own without crediting the source) and inappropriate/disruptive classroom behavior are violations of the Student Code of Conduct at Bellevue College.  Examples of unacceptable behavior include, but are not limited to: talking out of turn, arriving late or leaving early without a valid reason, allowing cell phones/pagers to ring, and inappropriate behavior toward the instructor or classmates.  The instructor can refer any violation of the Student Code of Conduct to the Vice President of Student Services for possible probation or suspension from Bellevue College.  Specific student rights, responsibilities and appeal procedures are listed in the Student Code of Conduct, available in the office of the Vice President of Student Services.”  The Student Code, Policy 2050, in its entirety is located at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/policies/2/2050_Student_Code.asp

Important Links

Bellevue College E-mail and access to MyBC

All students registered for classes at Bellevue College are entitled to a network and e-mail account.  Your student network account can be used to access your student e-mail, log in to computers in labs and classrooms, connect to the BC wireless network and log in to MyBC. To create your account, go to:  https://bellevuecollege.edu/sam .

Your course will also have a Canvas site which you can log into here: http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/canvas/

(use the same user ID and password used for your email and MyBC)

BC offers a wide variety of computer and learning labs to enhance learning and student success. Find current campus locations for all student labs by visiting the Computing Services website.

Disability Resource Center (DRC)

The Disability Resource Center serves students with a wide array of learning challenges and disabilities. If you are a student who has a disability or learning challenge for which you have documentation or have seen someone for treatment and if you feel you may need accommodations in order to be successful in college, please contact us as soon as possible.

If you are a person who requires assistance in case of an emergency situation, such as a fire, earthquake, etc, please meet with your individual instructors to develop a safety plan within the first week of the quarter.

The DRC office is temporarily located in the Library Media Center or you can call our reception desk at 425.564.2498.  Deaf students can reach us by video phone at 425-440-2025 or by TTY at 425-564-4110.   .    .  Please visit our website for application information into our program and other helpful links at www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc

Public Safety

The Bellevue College (BC) Public Safety Department’s well trained and courteous non-commissioned staff provides personal safety, security, crime prevention, preliminary investigations, and other services to the campus community, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.  Their phone number is 425.564.2400.  The Public Safety website is your one-stop resource for campus emergency preparedness information, campus closure announcements and critical information in the event of an emergency. Public Safety is located in K100 and on the web at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/publicsafety/

Final Exam Schedule

Check here:

http://bellevuecollege.edu/classes/exams

Academic Calendar

The Bellevue College Academic Calendar is separated into two calendars. They provide information about holidays, closures and important enrollment dates such as the finals schedule.

·        Enrollment Calendar - http://bellevuecollege.edu/enrollment/calendar/deadlines/. On this calendar you will find admissions and registration dates and important dates for withdrawing and receiving tuition refunds.

College Calendar - http://bellevuecollege.edu/enrollment/calendar/holidays/0910.asp. This calendar gives you the year at a glance and includes college holidays, scheduled closures, quarter end and start dates, and final exam dates.