Topic: Medical Ethics & Technology
| Time | Days | Location | Instructor | GER | Credit | OPUS Class Number | Syllabus (Tentative) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2:30pm-5:30pm | Th | Anthropology Building 303 | Seeman, Don. | HAP. | 4 | 2097 | TBA. |
This new seminar explores how different cultures and religious traditions make sense of new medical technologies and their potential limitations. Case studies include cloning, surrogacy, abortion and transplants. Our primary focus will be on how science is adapted in different cultural and religious settings, through both ethnographic and medical ethics writings. No prior background necessary. This course is especially geared to students in religion, anthropology and pre-med programs. We will do readings in a variety of religious traditions but will focus in particular on Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Come, and challenge your assumptions about life, death, human reproduction and faith!
Texts:
- Carol Delaney, The Seed and the Soil (University of California, 1991).
- Faye Ginsburg, Contested Lives: The Abortion Debate in an American Community (University of California Press, 1989).
- Swasti Bhattacharya, Magical Progeny, Modern Technology: A Hindu Bioethics of Reproductive Technology (Suny University Press, 2006).
- Susan Martha Kahn, Reproducing Jews: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception in Israel (Duke University Press, 2000).
- Tsipy Ivry, Embodying Culture: Pregnancy in Japan and Israel (Rutgers University Press, 2009).
- Rayna Rapp, Testing Women, Testing the Fetus (Routledge, 2000).
- Leon Kass, Life Liberty and the Defense of Human Dignity (Encounter Books, 2004).
The schedule of courses on O.P.U.S. is the official listing of courses, including days and times they meet and the General Education Requirements they satisfy. Students should use course descriptions as general guidelines. Course requirements, grading details, book lists, and syllabi are subject to change.