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Directions for Discussion

Initial Post: Pick one Discussion Prompt below. After you finish the reading assignment, type out your answer. Paste your reply to the Discussion Board. 150-400 words.  5 points. Due by Tuesday.

Reply: Write a reply to another student's initial post (ideally, on a  different Discussion Prompt).  50-150 words.  5 points.  

(Some student prefer to complete all their discussion board posts in one day - that's great. You may post your reply as soon as you see another student's post.)

More replies are encouraged.  Engage in a discussion on existing threads or start a new thread. This is your opportunity to engage in more specific discussions about the weekly Module, as well as explore new ideas. 0 points, but lots of learning!   I encourage lots of discussion! The ideal number of posts is 2-4 per week.

Discussion Prompts

Philosophers often use a tool called a "thought experiment" to explore our intuitions and to challenge different views. Thought experiments present situations that tend to be very unrealistic. By exploring those situations, we are able to learn new things about the world, about certain ideas, or about ourselves.

In the following prompts, we will consider two thought experiments designed to help us understand key differences between two moral frameworks, namely Kant's Formula of Ends and Mill's Utilitarianism. In these prompts, characters in the thought experiments consider doing things that most of us would agree are highly unethical. The interesting question is: Why would it be unethical? What moral values are being violated here?  If we can figure that out, then we can discover something about morality that we can apply to more realistic situations later.

Pick  one prompt below to answer.   After you finish the reading, type out your answer.  After you take the Reading Quiz, you can post your answer to the Discussion Board by pasting it in as a "reply.”  (Discussion Prompts are also listed in the  Module 2 Guide and Checklist .)

You will be posting before you watch the lectures, so it is expected that your views will change. Please do not edit your initial post, but rather describe the change in your thoughts in your replies and responses to your own post.  We are all explorers here.

Discussion Prompt 1

1. Thought experiment #1. Imagine a doctor has discovered that a patient has a fatal illness. If the doctor is truthful and tells the patient he is probably going to die, then the patient will become depressed and will increase his chances of dying. But if she lies and tells the patient that the prognosis looks good, then the patient has a very slightly better chance of recovering (although it is still a slim chance).

a. Based on the Module 2 reading, what would Kant’s Formula of Ends require the doctor to? Why?

b. Based on the Module 2 reading, what would Mill’s Principle of Utility require the doctor to do? Why?

c. If you were the patient, what would you prefer your doctor did? Why?

In your answer, be creative and include different factors that you might not think of at first. What matters is not what you answer, but the reasons you give for your answer and how well you connect your reasons to a moral framework.

or

Discussion Prompt 2

2. Thought experiment #2. A patient comes in complaining of a bad cold. You give them some treatments, and get ready to send them on their way, since they are otherwise quite healthy. However, you remember that you have five patients in the other room who desperately need new organs – heart, kidney, lung, pancreas, and intestines. From the patient’s record, you see that the cold patient is a match for all five patients, but the cold patient cannot live without these organs.

a. At first glance, what would Kant’s Formula of Ends require you to do, based on the Module 2 reading? Why?

b. At first glance, what would Mill’s Principle of Utility require you to do, based on the Module 2 reading? Why?

c. This is a classic thought experiment that raises some problems for the Principle of Utility. What are the problems, and how could Mill get around them?

 

Ways to make your replies interesting and worth-while:

· say something new that hasn’t been mentioned by another student, the lectures, or the readings

· share relevant information from personal or professional experience

· ask interesting questions

· mention the reading

· mention a moral framework, principle, or perspective

· mention the details of the case

 

Why you should read the replies (especially the instructor's replies):

By reading my replies and reflections, you will get the full lesson for that module. Not reading my replies is like leaving class in the middle of a lecture, thereby missing important course material.

Each prompt is carefully designed to bring up key points of debate in Biomedical Ethics. Your posts and my replies will help us explore these key points in more detail. By the very end of each discussion, we will have a deeper understanding of important details for that week, such as famous objections, important clarifications, or the limits of each moral framework.

For example, Prompt 1 here is designed to help us clarify what Mill means by "happiness." Mill's definition is somewhat surprising! On the exams, you will be expected to demonstrate that you understand what Mill means by "happiness." You will demonstrate this by explaining it in your own words. Just like all the views in this course, you are not required to agree with Mill. You are just required to show you know and understand what he is saying, and why he is saying it.

So be sure to read my replies. Also, I will post reflections on the discussions at the end of each Module after the discussions are over. Be sure to view my reflections to get a full understanding of the material.