Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL2039: Bioethics: DNA-technologies, Ethics and Human Identity

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

This module aims to:

  • familiarise you with the history of, and different positions, theories and problems in current bioethics;
  • familiarise you with ethical issues of genetics, stem cell research and issues of social and cultural identity, through engagement with applied case studies;
  • advance your ability to analyse texts, criticize, empirical and philosophical arguments and reflect on your own preferences in making arguments and your ideas of right and wrong.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. demonstrate in-depth knowledge of a range of key topics in bioethics;
2. understand and apply different empirical and theoretical perspectives in bioethics;
3. critically appraise forms of argument on ethical issues from different philosophical and sociological perspectives.
Discipline-Specific Skills4. analyse arguments in moral philosophy and social ethics;
5. demonstrate the ability to engage with both abstract and practical ethical issues.
Personal and Key Skills6. develop the ability to write scholarly, well-argued reflective essays;
7. construct normative arguments;
8. practice expressing your own thoughts and ideas at different levels of abstraction in discussion and writing.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Basic reading:

 

Ahluwalia, P. (2007) ‘Negotiating Identity: Post-colonial Ethics and Transnational Adoption’, Journal of Global Ethics, 3:1, 55-67, DOI: 10.1080/17449620701219881

Nelson, A. (2016). The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome, Boston, Beacon Press, Introduction, pp. 1-27.

Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer (eds), A Companion to Bioethics, Blackwell Publishing (2001).

Lisa A. Eckenwiler and Felicia G. Cohn (eds), The Ethics of Bioethics: Mapping the Moral Landscape, Johns, Hopkins University Press (2007).

Jonathan Glover: Choosing Children: Genes, Disability, and Design (Uehiro Series in Practical Ethics), Oxford University Press (2008).

Juergen Habermas, The Future of Human Nature, Polity Press (2002).

Christine Hauskeller, Steve Sturdy and Richard Tutton (eds), Special Issue Sociology: Genetics and the Sociology of Identity, SAGE (2013).

Nelkin, D. and Lindee, S. (2004), The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon, 3rd Edition. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, Chapter 8: Genetic Essentialism Applied