Bioethics
Code: 43834 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4316227 Applied Philosophy | OB | 0 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Irene Gomez Franco
- Email:
- irene.gomez.franco@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
Other comments on languages
SpanishExternal teachers
- Anna Quintanas
Prerequisites
It is recommended that the students have some previous knowledge of English and French, to be able to read some of the bibliographical sources.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Bioethics is the discipline that, applying a reasoned ethical perspective, deals with problems related to life - human life and well-being, but also other forms of life such as non-human animals.
This module will analyse current issues and controversies in bioethics from a widened perspective.
Firstly, a historical-conceptual map will be drawn up, followed by an examination of issues related to social justice in health, the concept of the 'person' and the obligations that we have towards future generations (intergenerational justice). In the second part, we will study the relationship between biopolitics and bioethics.
The ultimate aim is for students to reflect on the contemporary life-related challenges, and on the bioethical challenges posed by the advances of technoscience and the structure of human action.
Competences
- Analyze critically and synthesize information obtained from an article or a specialized monograph, and from quality information distributed on the web.
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
- Critically assess the implications on the human condition of new ideological, political, economic and technological forms that impact on the contemporary world.
- Identify and describe the relevant theoretical elements in contemporary ethical research, especially those associated with the question of good, justice and their political implications.
- Reconstruct and analyze critically the positions of the main current researchers in the field of philosophy of each of the main subject areas of the master's degree (science, art, politics) using their characteristic categories and lexis.
- Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyze critically and synthesize information obtained from an article or a specialized monograph, and from quality information distributed on the web.
- Apply bioethics terminology to problem areas in the regulation of ecology and patient-care ethics.
- Apply ethical theories to problem areas in the field of the environment and sustainability.
- Apply ethical theories to the contexts of advances in biotechnology and public health policies.
- Apply the theoretical content of contemporary ethics to biomedical, clinical and patient-care problem areas.
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
- Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
Content
1. Introduction to bioethics
2. Bioethics and social justice
3. The rights of future generations
4. The Non-Identity Problem and the notion of harm
5. Biomedical ethics or global bioethics?
6. The biopolitical background of bioethics
7. The growing medicalisation of life
8. The imperative of health and neoliberal rule
Methodology
The module is structured in 10 sessions of 3½ hours.
The sessions will count with a lecture part and a participative seminar format. Students take an active part both with their presence and their participation in the lectures and seminars.
The professors will monitor the development of the module assignments during the tutoring and the face-to-face classes.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures and seminars | 35 | 1.4 | 1, 5, 2, 3, 4, 8, 6, 7 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutoring | 17 | 0.68 | 1, 5, 2, 3, 4, 8, 6, 7 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reading, analysing and researching | 66 | 2.64 | 1, 5, 2, 3, 4, 8, 6, 7 |
Assessment
The evaluation takes the form of continuous assessment and contains three elements:
a) two oral presentations of a subject (ones for each part of the subject, 20% each of the final grade, 40% total),
b) A written assignment (40%) and
c) active participation in class (20% rest).
The oral presentations will take place during the seminar part in both the first and the second part of the course.
The written assignment will be supervised by one of the two professors depending on whether it is a topic from Prof. Anna Quintanas' or Prof. Irene Gómez' part of the course. Format paper (academic article). Max. 6 pages excluding title page, table of contents and bibliography.
Participation will be evaluated by the two professors conjunctly.
Each professor will mark a date and place for the review of the results of the assignment evaluations. There will also be a 'second-chance' examination date that will be set by the Faculty.
In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity thatmay lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity,
regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 oral presentations (one for each part of the subject) | 40% | 13 | 0.52 | 1, 5, 2, 3, 4, 8, 6, 7 |
| Participation in class | 20% | 6 | 0.24 | 1, 5, 2, 3, 4, 8, 6, 7 |
| Written assignment | 40% | 13 | 0.52 | 1, 5, 2, 3, 4, 8, 6, 7 |
Bibliography
At the beginning of the course, a more extended and detailed bibliography will be provided.
Basic bibliography:
ÁVILA, I. D. (comp..), La cuestión animal(ista), Ediciones desde Abajo, Bogotà, 2016.
BEISTEGUI, M. i altres, The Care of Life. Transdisciplinary Perspectives in Bioethics and Biopolitics, Rowman and Littlefield, London, 2015.
CAMFIC (Societat Catalana de Medicina Familiar i Comunitària), Malalts de salut? Reflexions al voltant de les noves demandes i les respostes del sistema sanitari, vol. 24, Suplement 1, 2on trimestre 2006.
CBC (Comité de Bioetica de Catalunya), La qualitat en els comités d’ètica asistencial, Barcelona, 2013.
CCBC (Comitè Consultiu de Bioètica de Catalunya), Jornada de debat. La medicalització creixent de la vida, Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Salut, 2007.
DOVE, E. S. i altres, “Beyond individualism: is there a place for relational autonomy in clinical practice and research?”, Clinical Ethics, 2017, pp. 1-16.
GÓMEZ, I., Deudas pendientes, CSIC - Plaza y Valdés, Madrid, 2020.
LECAROS, J. A., “Ecological ethics: the road of responsibility towards global bioethics”, Ramon Llull Journal, nº 4, 2013, pp. 201-215.
LÓPEZ DE LA VIEJA, Mª. T., “Bioética feminista”, Dilemata, año 6, nº 15, 2014, pp. 143-152.
MARSICO, G., Bioética: voces de mujeres, Narcea S. A. Ediciones, Madrid, 2003.
PARFIT, D., Reasons and Persons, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1987.
PICHOT, A., La société pure. De Darwin à Hitler, Flammarion, París, 2000.
QUINTANAS, A. (ed.), El trasfondo biopolítico dela bioética, Documenta Universitaria, Girona, 2013.
ROSE, N., Politics of life itself: biomedicine, power and subjectivity in the twenty-first century, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2006.
SAVULESCU, J., ¿Decisiones peligrosas?, Madrid: Tecnos, 2012.
SANDEL, M., Contra la perfección, Barcelona: Marbot, 2007.
VALLS-LLOVET, C., Mujeres, salud y poder, Ediciones Cátedra, Madrid, 2016.
V.A.V.A, Bioética y feminismo. Estudios multidisciplinares de género, Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, 2006.
WILKINSON, R. y PICKETT, K., Desigualdad. Un análisis de la (in)felicidad colectiva, Madrid: Turner, 2009.
WILLIAMS, L., “Human ecology, bio-ethics and Human rights in the anthropocene”, Studia Bioethica, vol. 8, nº 2, 2015, pp. 25-35.
Software
Not applicable.