International Research

*new* 1 Dec 11 World AIDS Day
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15823409
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/opinion/a-decade-of-progress-on-aids.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

30 Nov 11  Treatment of AIDS worldwide
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15854793

Here's the bio on our guest speaker (5 Dec)
http://www.pathobiology.uc.edu/faculty/blackard.html

Genetics

*news* 15Nov11
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Geron-halting-stem-cell-apf-659028246.html?x=0&l=1

1. Technical questions?

2. Moral, ethical, legal, social concerns?  (These are commonly collectively referred to as ELSI concerns)

Love Philia (21 Nov)

Comment on

1. Love as desire

2. Love of children

3. Love of friends

4. Love of marriage-quality partner.

What can we justifiably ask of any of these others? 

Joy in Love--how to cultivate it?

v  Here’s a key passage:

Let us say the word: philia is love in all its forms when it flourishes between human beings, whenever it is not reduced to want or passion (erōs).  The word, therefore, has a narrower range than the word love (which can be used in reference to an object, animal, or god) but wider than the word friendship (which is hardly ever used with reference to the parent-child relationship) (p. 254).

v  How to maintain that passion from first love along with cultivating a mature love over time?

v  “In short, concupiscent or covetous love, though not necessarily blameworthy, is a selfish love that loves the other for its own benefit.  Benevolent love, on the other hand, is a generous love—it loves the other for the other’s benefit” (p. 262).

o   “But erōs is consumed as it is satisfied . . . ; whereas philia, in a happy couple, never ceases to intensify, deepen, and flourish” (p. 263).

Love Agape (28 Nov)

I'll post unless someone else wants to start.

Research on Animals

*new* NYTimes article 1 Dec 11
At least 5 percent of the 650 dogs used by American combat forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. http://nyti.ms/vVaoSc

Research on Chimps
this couldn't be more timely:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/science/chimps-days-in-research-may-be-near-an-end.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210

*new* more on chimps in research
http://the-scientist.com/2011/11/17/illegal-breeding-at-chimp-facility/

Brianna started discussion in another section; I'm reposting here:

http://ww.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v1n3/cures.html

I found this to be an interesting article applicable to today's discussion about Research on Animals. Here's my question:
Where is the line between science and curiosity? From a Utilitarian standpoint, painful/fatal research on animals should be done only to benefit the greater good. The animals are being used as a means to an end, therefore, is it ethically right?
I believe that some research should be done to help save human lives, but other experiments seem to have no other point but satisfying curiosity.

Research on Human Subjects

Current Events November

 *new* 15 Nov 11
http://www.pbs.org/programs/elusive-justice/

*new* 15 Nov 11 NYTimes' David Brooks on the difficulties of being moral
The general reaction to the Penn State atrocity has been self-righteous and dishonest. We should all take a look at our propensity to self-deceive. http://nyti.ms/soOELC

14Nov11 60 Minutes on conflicts of interest in politics
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7388130n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox

14Nov11www.values.com.
 What do you think about this group & website?

A new quick NIH funding system for interdisciplinary proposals:
http://the-scientist.com/2011/11/10/nsf-sans-peer-review/

*new* Love: Eros (14 Nov)

Love, Eros

Quotations and questions to prompt your discussion:

v  "We need morality only for the want of love" (p. 223) and "Act as though you loved" (p. 224) and "Love is not a command; it is an idea" (p. 224).

v  "Love may have its roots in sexuality . . . but it cannot be reduced to sexuality."

v  "Our lives--private and public, domestic and professional--have value only in proportion to the love we invest in them and find in them" (p. 223)

v  "Love, therefore, is first:  not absolutely, of course (for then it would be God), but in relation to morality, duty, and the law.  It is the alpha and omega of all virtue" (p. 226). Well, at least it isn't essential or foundational to all of them ;)

v  Is romantic love the seeking of your other half?  Do you believe that there is one true love for you?  Must you find that person to be truly happy?

v  Is romantic love an absolute, unconditional love? A permanent love? An exclusive love? (Ok, so here you CAN comment on that Kardashian wedding/divorce in the context of romantic love.)  What's the relationship of love to desire?

v  Is Eros ever satisfied?  “If love is lack, and insofar as it is, it precludes completeness by definition” (p. 235) and “if love is desire and desire is want, we can love only what we do not have and suffer from this lack. . .” (p. 240).  “If love is want, it is doomed to failure (in life) or can succeed only in death” (p. 242)

v  “Love can escape absolute want, absolute deprivation, and absolute misfortune only by bringing forth. . . that is, through the family or through creation, be it in art, politics, or science” (p. 236)

v  Concupiscent love – “loving the other person for one’s own benefit” (p. 238).  Do you know what murder ballads are?  Remind me, perhaps I’ll sing for you  (Banks of the Ohio, Butcher Boy)

v  “What sort of virtue would it be that can lead only to suffering or religion” (p. 242)

More opportunities for your thoughts on the virtues

Who wants to write a paper?  You could write a paper jointly (not all of you, although that would be funny given our discussions about authorship in science and multiple authors).  Let me know.  Also, don't forget about those other essay contests (Elie Wiesel and that service fraternity).

  Call for Papers:  Conference on the Theological Virtues     

Additional information regarding the conference series is available at www.viterbo.edu/ethics

Viterbo University, La Crosse, Wisconsin                   March 29-31, 2012

2012 Theme: HOPE

The 2012 conference is the second in a series of three conferences on the theological virtues.  We invite papers examining the meaning, history, and practical implications of the idea of hope as a virtue.  We encourage submissions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

Conflicts of Interest & other residual questions (by 6 Nov)

What questions do you have for Dr. Lorentz regarding conflicts of interest, authorship, misconduct, IP, mentoring, and/or industry-academia collaborations?  Please respond by Sunday evening so that I can compile the questions for Dr. Lorentz on Monday.  Thanks!

RCR: what have you learned to date?

How is this course, specifically the RCR part, working for you?  What, if anything, have you learned?  What do you want to know more about?  The focus here is on course content, rather than format.

By the way, I think I forgot to tell you that once a degree is conferred, it cannot be rescinded.  (referring to a case from a few weeks ago where a new professor was accused by a lab technician of falsifying data, and the lab books were never found).

DJ's follow-up (on pain of failing this ethics course. . . )

I can't remember all of what DJ is supposed to do for us, so feel free to jump in and give him assignments.  He does need to follow-up on:

1. More information about Monsanto
2. Corporations as moral entities

Research on Human Subjects

We'll talk more about this broad topic in chpt 12 of the RCR, but this news came out today about changes in the laws regarding human subjects.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/arts/rules-meant-to-protect-human-research-subjects-cause-concern.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha28

HIV research

Science article by Gallo & Montagnier
http://aidscience.org/science/298%285599%291730.html

And the Band Played On (a book and film about the early study of HIV)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Band_Played_On
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106273/
http://www.amazon.com/Band-Played-Politics-People-Epidemic/dp/0312241356

Oct/Nov Current Events

 *new* 10 Nov 11
from an essay in Inside Higher Ed , "The first factor promoting ethics scandals is that, contrary to their self-belief, smart people are especially susceptible to acting foolishly.  Your biggest risk factor for foolish behavior is the belief that, while other people often act in foolish ways, you never would do so. Smart people are often those most likely to harbor such a belief."

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2011/11/10/essay-why-smart-people-make-foolish-ethical-choices#.TrwBAgPFyKU.email#ixzz1dKBJRfGC

5 Nov 11
A Dutch scholar was found to have falsified findings in dozens of papers, in a field that critics say is vulnerable to such abuses. http://nyti.ms/unVj1J 

31 Oct 11 Is being good sometimes a matter of feeling good?
 Brain scans suggest that everything from sugar to sex lights up the brain’s pleasure circuitry similar to the way cocaine does in an addict. And altruism does, too. http://nyti.ms/uH4aJI

27Oct11
Recycling scientific lab equipment:
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/26/141666558/used-lab-equipment-finds-a-second-home-overseas

25Oct11
Fresh Air interview regarding patenting of human genes.
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=141429392&m=141591220

An essay on how biology has changed due to the amount of data involved in studying genomics, and other 'omics'.
http://the-scientist.com/2011/10/01/data-deluge/

Gratitude (John)

from John:


C-s defines gratitude in many ways throughout his less-than-ten pages he devotes to it. In fact, he probably restates the general definition at least once per page, if not more. However, a comprehensive definition can be offered as thus; Gratitude is the enjoyment of eternity, the pleasure of receiving, the joy of being joyful, the most pleasant of virtues, and the most virtuous of pleasures. (132-137, that list is a combination of three quotes). 


"To thank is to give; to be gracious means to share... This joy, this happiness, they belong to both of us" the giver and the receiver (133). Thus, "Gratitude is love, not a quid pro quo" (135). Ergo it has to be willing given and cannot be forced, expected or even demanded. Because gratitude cannot be forced, then it has to come out of something else, some existential "love" (fraternal, camaraderie, just to be clear) for another. When someone is kind to someone else, it causes a chain reaction; Gratitude and generosity go hand in hand, wherein, someone is generous to another person who feels gratitude towards them and then is generous in turn. Think of the old coke commercials, where everyone passed along a coke to the next person; the person holding the coke was already smiling and happy, while the person they were about to give it to was not or was simply working hard. Once the coke was passed, the new person felt the same way and therefore felt generous enough to keep on passing the coke, so as to share the joy, in a gracious manner. The "egoist", as C-S puts it, or someone who is self-absorbed, cannot enjoy gratitude because when he receives something, he keeps the happiness to himself, by being ungrateful. "We absorb joy as others absorb  light, for egoism is a black hole" (134). 

Gratitude is both honorable and good because it has the ability to allow us to see from where we have attained joy from another person and then share it, thus making us good as well. However good it may be, it cannot come before other, more "important" virtues. C-S uses the example along the lines of a murderer saving your life and then them asking you to testify for them, saying that they are innocent. While it is right to be gracious for having your life saved, it is not right to let this gracious feeling come before other virtues, like honesty and justice. Conversely, it cannot take a backseat to pride, though "We all tend to see the love we have received as reason for self-congratulation rather than a cause for gratitude... Pride refuses to owe, self-love to pay" (135), in the mind of C-S. Pride often does not allow for gratitude, because, in the sense that C-S has proposed, pride is all aimed inward, at the self. However, I disagree with this point, and I feel anyone who has a family can relate; one can certainly feel pride for someone other than themselves, especially in someone that they love, in which case, the pride is humble and not arrogant, because it is sharing in someone else's success and therefore, joy, as gratitude would have us do. 

Gratitude is a feeling that lives in the present, as opposed to regret or nostalgia, which linger in the past, and hope and apprehension, which lie in the future. Gratitude is the pleasure of the here and now, what is and what has just taken place. When gratitude does deal with the past, "It is time regained - the past recaptured, if you will - 'the grateful recollection of what has been'" (137). 


Some parting quotes, to think about, be inspired by, etc. :

"Gratitude does not abolish grief; it completes it" (138), so that one can come out of the mourning process and instead rejoice that whatever was lost and being mourned ever existed in the first place. 

"Life is not a debt: life is a state of grace, and being is a state of grace,; therein lies gratitude's highest lesson" (137). 

Lastly, in gratitude, we defeat death, because death can only take away the future, which doesn't yet exist, and cannot take away what has caused you joy in the past. 

Craig Venter

Chapter 5 Collaboration between Academia & Private Industry references Craig Venter, former CEO of Celera Genomics Corporation.  You might want to watch this TED talk of his.  He is a major player in genetics, genomics research, very cutting-edge.  He is also know for his huge personality & ego.
http://www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life.html

Here's a link to the full paper announcing the sequencing of the human genome, a joint government + Celera undertaking:  http://www.sciencemag.org/content/291/5507/1304.full 

Codes of Ethics

We'll read about Codes of Ethics in more detail in chpt 12, and you've read a bit about them already in Immortal Life (Chpt 17, esp. pp. 131-132), but here's a story about a man who was at the Nuremberg trial reporting on it:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/opinion/nocera-the-nuremberg-scripts.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212  .  The article has links to primary sources which you'll find interesting.

Research ethics (chpt 2)

A few questions for discussion from chpt 2, pp. 37-8.  Pick a few that most interest you.

1. Do you think most scientists and science students are ethical?
3. What situations in science present the most difficult ethical problems and dilemmas?
4. Do you think researchers should adhere to the same ethical standards that apply to other professions, such as medicine or law?  Why or why not?
5. Do you think researchers have ethical duties and responsibilities 'over and above' the ethical obligations of ordinary people?
7. Is reasoning the best method for making an ethical decision?  Why or why not?

Kant follow-up

Dear Virtuous Students,

I've been thinking about our discussion last week, particularly the part about Kant.  I asked Dr. Langguth who is much more familiar with Kant's work about our application of Kant to research ethics situations, which sparked a great conversation between he & I.  He wrote me this clarification about the lying to the Nazi situation (below).  We can discuss further how that applies to, for example, psychological experiments.

Cheers!
Dr. Cate

from Dr. Langguth (my emphasis)
By the way, I was looking through some of Allen Wood's (the Kant scholar coming to UC) papers and found his reply to the notorious murderer at the door case. It gets a bit technical, but the basic idea is that Kant makes a distinction between uttering a false statement when you are making a "declaration" (lying under oath, to a police officer, etc.) and a false statement in other, more ordinary, contexts ("I am the King of England" said by me) that we can exploit to get Kant out of trouble. I [Dr. Langguth] did not know this, but apparently the murderer at the door case was originally (sometime in the 1770s) part of a correspondence with Benjamin Constant in which Kant was trying to defend the first claim about declarations against the counterclaim that it is only when you are communicating with people who have a "right to truth" that you are under any obligation to be truthful. The murderer at the door is someone who, due to his malevolent intentions, has no right to the truth. Furthermore, lying to him is not only harmless but prevents harm. Kant replies that some harm is always done to humanity when a "lie" (in the sense of a false declaration) is told, even if the harm is not apparent. All of which may not get Kant off the hook since he did reply to Constant that the murderer at the door case doesn't change anything. A lie is a lie.

But Wood argues that the murderer case as it is usually discussed does not involve a "lie" at all in Kant's official sense, but a mere false statement. He also notes  that Kant discusses a case in which you are the victim of a robber who demands to know where your money is. Kant says it's OK to lie in this case because the robber seeks to "misuse the truth" in order to get your money (I hate when that happens). If it is permitted to lie to protect your money, then it seems reasonable that protecting someone's life would be even more OK. Of course, not everyone buys Wood's gloss on all of this. Here is a paragraph from Wood's article with some relevant quotes from Kant:


" In the usual interpretation of Kant’s position, no thought at all is given to the fact that he would see no violation of right whatever in a mere falsification uttered to the would-be murderer about where his intended victim is. Although the category of “declaration” includes more than assertions made under oath or in a contract, it is no part of Kant’s theory to hold that just anyone who knocks on your door might automatically require from you a solemn declaration regarding the present whereabouts of some person. Perhaps a policeman, as in Kant’s original example, is in such a position, which is why the servant might be criminally liable as an accessory to his master’s crime. Of course if the murderer at the door could not require a declaration from you, then telling him an intentional untruth would not count as a lie (mendacium). In quotation F, Kant explicitly allows that no lie, and no violation of right, occurs if we commit a falsification in order to prevent another from making wrongful use of the truth:


11“I can also commit a falsiloquium when my intent is to hide my intentions from the other, and he can also presume that I shall do so, since his own purpose is to make a wrongful use of the truth. If an enemy, for example, takes me by the throat and demands to know where my money is kept, I can hide the information here, since he means to misuse the truth. That is still no mendacium.” (VE 27:447).

Current Events

*new* 28 Sept
http://mobile.salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2011/09/27/moved_in_with_daughter/index.html
This is a letter from a grown woman who moved to help her daughter and granddaughter as their husband/father was dying.  I was really moved by the advice -- so compassionate, so virtuous.

1.  One of the reasons to take a course in Ethics is to give you the language and conceptual framework(s) to reason intelligently about difficult problems.  Your peers are not so good at this:

The rise of moral individualism has produced a generation unable to speak intelligibly about the virtuous life. http://nyti.ms/p51UPb 

2.  Andrea, you were making a point at the end of class that we didn't have time to discuss.  I can't remember what it was, but feel free to discuss it in Current Events.

3. Very exciting immunological research results (a possible treatment for cancer):
A closer look at what was done to cure two patients of chronic lymphocytic leukemia with a novel gene therapy — which may be useful against other cancers. http://nyti.ms/ps9o4b

4. !*!*! An op-ed in today's The Scientist (an electronic digest of science news)
http://the-scientist.com/2011/09/14/opinion-reforming-stem-cell-tourism/
check out the author. . . someone you "know"

The Lab

What are you learning from The Lab?  Are you making good decisions?  Are the ethical theories helping you to navigate the choices?

Immortal Life: Death (26 Sept)

Please comment, question, discuss ideas/topics/concerns from the second section of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Immortal Life: Immortality (3 Oct)

Please comment, question, discuss ideas/topics/concerns from the third section of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Immortal Life: Life (5 Sept)

Please comment, question, discuss ideas/topics/concerns from the first section of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Love (14 Nov)

I think this last chapter will be worth the wait.  I'm very much looking forward to discussion of it with you.

Humor (7 Nov) Kirchner

Andrea:  I hope you've been saving up good jokes to help illustrate the points of this chapter. . .

Good Faith (7 Nov)

Important quotes from the chapter?  Ties to other material?

Gentleness (31 Oct)

No specific discussion leader, but you know the drill by now.

Purity (31 Oct) Stephenson

Jon:  looking forward to your discussion prompts.  Especially how you'll tie Purity to Halloween...

Tolerance (24 Oct) Smith

Karlie, you're up for awesome prompts on Tolerance.

Simplicity (24 Oct) J Ruwe

Joe:  This topic might be deceptively simple.

Humility (17 Oct) D. Ruwe

Dan:  I cannot wait to hear what you've got to say on this topic.

Mercy (10 Oct) Kirley

JJ: make us think about mercy, please.

Compassion (10 Oct) Hinken

Kelsey:  what say ye about compassion?

Generosity (3 Oct) Hart

Kaylan, I don't think this will be a hard area for you to lead us in discussion.

Justice (3 Oct) Geiger

Julie:  your turn to start the conversation.

Courage (26 Sept) Gamel

Ellen will start our conversation with very excellent prompts.

Temperance (26 Sept) Erne

Brianna will provide provocative discussion prompts.

Prudence (12 Sept) Cerimele

Michael will start us off with discussion prompts.

Fidelity (12 Sept) Beckemeyer

Comment here on Fidelity.  Holly will start us off with a few insightful discussion prompts.

Politeness (29 Aug)

Comment here on the 1st chapter of A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues.  To start with, do you think that Comte-Sponville is right that politeness "serves as a foundation for the moral development of the individual"?  With what else do you agree?  Disagree?

Welcome!

I know most of us know each other fairly well, but would you go ahead and formally introduce yourselves, noting anything remotely relevant to research (you've participated as a research subject, you are studying science, you are/will/have been engaged in research at TMC or elsewhere, you've read a book about research, etc.).

I'll start:

I'm Dr. Cate and my greatest academic love is medical ethics, followed closely by 1) study of death and dying, and work with hospice, and 2) philosophy of science.  I have also recently become more involved with ethics in emergency medicine (co-teaching ethics workshops to EMTs and paramedics).  To prepare to teach this course, I attended (with Dr. Barone of TMC Biology) a week-long international research ethics course at Harvard School of Public Health in June 2010.   I am also still quite in love with Virtue Ethics and so we will dive more deeply into it than in other ethical theories.

I am part of the QEP cohort this year, and so have framed this course with the tenets of critical thinking.  Part of my research will be using you as guinea pigs in how to teach research ethics and critical thinking. :)

This course will be very open.  Please feel free to "try on" ideas, views, opinions that you do not necessarily believe, but are willing to explore with the rest of us.  I do not care *what* you believe as much as I will try to guide you to think more clearly and with good reasons which you can readily articulate.

I am looking forward to spending this semester with you.
Dr. Cate