Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Bioethics

Code

10828

Academic unit

Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia

Department

Departamento de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas

Credits

3.0

Teacher in charge

Isabel Maria da Silva Pereira Amaral

Weekly hours

2

Total hours

44

Teaching language

Português

Objectives

This course is intended to serve as a broad introduction to the field of bioethics:

  1. Leading students to ask themselves the crucial questions on the nature of the relationship between techno-science, bioethics and society, nowadays;
  2. Leading students to think about their future work as scientific professionals and about their rights and duties as citizens;
  3. Increasing the student’s capacity of decision and adjustment in a changing world.

Specific capabilities to be developed:

To understand and master the fundamental concepts of Bioethics, this specialized and cross-disciplinary knowledge spanning ethics, law, society, culture, public policy, philosophy, religion, economics, history, and even language, for the analysis of the interrelationship between biosciences, biotechnology and society.

General capabilities to be implemented:

  1. To understand the dynamics of the relationship between science, technology and society, in different geographic an geopolitical contexts, at a global scale;
  2. To develop the sense of ethics and social responsibility;
  3. To relate professional practice with the active citizenship.

Subject matter

Programme:

1.  Introduction to Bioethics: nature and history

  • The life: forms, origins and sense

2. Overview of the current state of the art of global ethics

3. The major paradigms of western society (teleological, deontological and utilitarian models)

4. The canon of bioethics: classic works then and now: the bioethics committees

5. The Euthanasia and the abortion debate: an interdisciplinary approach

6. Experimentation in animals – animal bioethics

7. The place of bioethics in humankind: coercion, exploitation, and manipulation

8. Should we do what science and technology make possible?

 Contemporary issues on bioethics – study cases:

  1. Sexuality and human procreation  (infertility and  “surrogate”)
  2. Manipulation and genetic selection (prenatal diagnosis, enhancement technologies,  genetic therapy)
  3. Research in human embryos (Fertilization in vitro, cloning and research in steam cells)
  4. GMOs and biotecnhological agriculture
  5. Human transplantation

Bibliography

Bibliography

Caplan, A.L & Arp, R. (2014), Contemporary Debates in Bioethics, Wiley Blackwell: West Sussex.

Cristina Beckert (2012), Ética. Lisboa: CFUL.

Donna Dickenson (2012), All that Matters, Mc Graw Hill: London.

Ben Mepham, (2008), Bioethics- an introduction for the biosciences, Oxford University Press: Oxford.

Helga Kruse & Peter Singer, (2006), Bioethics, an Antology, Blackwell Publishing: Oxford.

Henk ten Have (2016), Vulnerability – challenging bioethics, Routledge: New York.

Holland, S. (2012), Arguing About Bioethics, Routledge: Oxon.

Millum, J.;  Emanuel, E. (ed.) (2012),  Global Justice and Bioethics, Oxford University Press: Oxford.

Teaching method

Each session lasts three-hours (theory and practice). The contents of the program are presented by the teacher and supported by slides, scientific and technical texts, and films covering the topics outlined in the syllabus.

 

Students are encouraged to have a critical posture concerning the topics of the program.

Evaluation method

The course  is evaluated by:

  1. 1.   A comment of a text related to the programme of the discipline (35%).
  2. 2.   Elaboration of a mini-project of research (in group) with a theme chosen among the topics of the programme, with 4 outputs:
    1. Oral presentation in classroom (20%)
    2. Poster to exhibit at the Faculty for other students (20%)
    3. One biography by each member of the team (12.5%)
    4.  One entry at a glossary of the discipline (12.5%)

 

Participation in the debates that take place during the sessions will be taken into account.

 

In order to have frequência students must be present in 3/4 of the sessions.

 

The comment aims at assessing if students master the contents of the syllabus; the mini project of research aim at assessing if students are able to use what they learned in classes in different learning environments and in an autonomous way.

Courses