Ethics and Philosophy of Science

Ethics and Philosophy of Science (Spring 2019)

INSTRUCTOR: Jeff Tolly

TEXT: No required text. Pdfs of papers/articles to be supplied on Sakai or accessible through a link below.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course explores ethical dilemmas that arise in scientific practice itself as well as the moral issues facing society as we grapple with emerging computer and biological technologies. As a class, we'll bring the insights of ethical theory to bear on these important moral questions in science.

In particular, this course will focus on the following questions:

What is it that makes an action morally right? What makes an action morally wrong?
What is virtue?
Should society adopt self-driving cars or avoid this future at all costs?
What sorts of limits should be placed on the kinds of experiments performed on human test subjects?—What is the explanation for these limits (if there are any)?
Is it morally wrong to use empirical data that was gathered in evil ways?
Are there some questions or issues that, morally, should be off-limits to scientific investigation, period? If so, what are these?
Can scientists be complicit in evil acts that were made possible because of the data they discovered? If so, how?
How could we, if at all, move forward in producing an AI super-intelligence in a way that’s morally sound? Or, is it morally wrong to continue trying to produce an AI superintelligence?
Can a person simultaneously be someone who takes scientific practice seriously while being a person of devout religious faith? Or are the practices of science and faith inherently in conflict with each other?
Do animals have rights?
Under what circumstances, if any, is it morally permissible to perform scientific experiments on non-human animals?
Under what conditions, if any, is it morally permissible to conduct research on dead people? Is it possible to wrong someone who is dead?
In the era of "big-data" companies, what are the moral guidelines that should govern how these companies handle the vast amount of personal data that they gather about people?
Should military robots be given the ability to both identify human targets on their own and kill them?
Are there any moral restrictions that should be placed on emerging human genetic engineering technology? Is any sort of human genetic engineering off-limits (morally)?

SCHEDULE

Mon. 1/14 First day: Introductions

Unit 1: Logic, Ethics, and the Trolley Problem

Wed. 1/16 Ethics and the Trolley Problem

Reading:

(1) Video: “Bystander at the switch and Loop Trolley problem” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtKjuHfjXFc

Fri. 1/18 Logic and Kantian Ethics

Readings:

(1) Video: How to Argue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKEhdsnKKHs&t=

(2) Video: “Kant and Categorical Imperatives”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bIys6JoEDw

Mon. 1/21 -NO CLASS- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

Wed. 1/23 Virtue Ethics

Readings:

(1) “On the Good Life”—Aristotle 89-93 (Sakai)

(2) Video: “Aristotle and Virtue Theory”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrvtOWEXDIQ&t=330s

Fri. 1/25 The ethics of self-driving cars (day 1)

Readings:

(1) Video “The Ethical Dilemma of Self-Driving Cars”—Patrick Lin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixIoDYVfKA0

(2) “Punch the Accelerator on Self Driving Cars”—Don Howard and Mark Mills (Wall Street Journal)

Mon. 1/28 The Ethics of Self-Driving Cars (day 2)

Readings:

(1): “Hackers are the Real Obstacle for Self-Driving Vehicles—MIT Tech. Review.

Unit 2: The Ethics of Human Experimentation

Wed. 1/30 Ethical issues with Human experimentation.

Readings:

(1) Video: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study - National History Day 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ay3RJhavI

(2) Wikipedia entry, “Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment”,

Fri. 2/1 Guidelines for experimentation on human beings

Reading;

(1). Belmont Report: Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research.

Mon. 2/4 The ethics of conducting clinical trials

Reading:

(1) “Is ‘Right to Try’ Right for Indiana?”—Amber Stearns

(2) “Ebola Vaccine Trials Raise Ethics Issues”—John Cohen and Kai Kupferschmidt

Wed. 2/6 What is exploitation?

Reading:

(1) “Introduction: Why Exploitation?”—Jennifer Hawkins and Zeke Emanuel

Fri. 2/8 Morally corrupt data sets

Reading:

(1) “Head of EPA Bars Nazi Data in Study on Gas”—Philip Shabecoff

Unit 3: Constraints on Scientific Inquiry and the Ethics of Complicity

Mon. 2/11 Are some research questions morally off limits?

Reading:

(1) Wikipedia Entry: “History of the Race and Intelligence Controversy”

(2) “Conflict Marks Crime Conference”—Wade Roush

Wed. 2/13 -No CLASS meeting in person-

Instead, watch the video and complete the video response essay assignment: “What happens When our Computers get Smarter than We are?”—Nick Bostrom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnT1xgZgkpk

Fri. 2/15 Guest speaker: Dr. Adam Smith—Aerospace Research and Military-Funded Science

Mon. 2/18 The ethics of complicity, day 1

Reading:

(1) Book Review of Allen’s The Fantastic Laboratory of Dr. Wiegl—Jonathan Yardley

Wed. 2/20 The ethics of complicity, day 2

Reading:

(1) “Complicity and Moral Accountability (Introduction)”—Gregory Mellema

Fri. 2/22 Unit 3 wrap-up

Unit 4: Religion and Scientific Practice

Mon. 2/25 Religious faith and science-Are they compatible?, day 1

(1) Video: “Science and Religion are not Compatible”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB9NOpAYRcQ

(2) Video 2: “Does Science make Belief in God Obsolete?” (just watch the short segment from time code 3:30-5:20):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hn92R8C4MY

(3) Video 3: “Why It’s so hard for Scientists to Believe in God—Francis Collins”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pINptKQYviQ

Wed. 2/27 Religious faith and science-Are they compatible?, day 2

Reading:

(1) Excerpt from Where the Conflict Really Lies (pgs. 266-274, although feel free to keep reading)—Alvin Plantinga

Fri. 3/1 Is scientific practice compatible with Atheism?

Reading:

(1) Video: “The Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qap_FyQxILM&index=6&list=PLUwpbayMegSSGsRxNRRGtSdCfI2QMC7ls

(2) Video: “The Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism. Alvin Plantinga, Templeton Prize 2017”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs6zFymVKJM&t=161s

Mon. 3/4 Unit 4 Wrap up

(no new reading)

Unit 5: The Ethics of Animal Research

Wed. 3/6 Utilitarianism and research on non-human animals

Reading:

(1) “The Utilitarian Approach” --Rachels and Rachels

Fri. 3/8 Guest Speaker: Dr. John Langdon—What kinds of experiments cross the line?

(1) “Do Animals Have Rights?”—Rachels

3/11-3/15 -NO CLASS-Spring Break

Mon. 3/18 The role of experimentation on non-human animals in society, day 1

Reading:

(1) “The Benefits and Ethics of Animal Research”—Andrew Rowan

(2) “Animal Research is Vital to Medicine”—Adrian Morrison and Jack Botting

Wed. 3/20 The role of experimentation on non-human animals in society, day 2

Reading:

(1) “Animal Research is Wasteful and Misleading”—Neal Barnard and Stephen Kaufman

(2) “Trends in Animal Research”--Madhusree Mukerjee

Fri. 3/22 Final Paper Prospectus Workshop

Unit 6: The Ethics of Research on the Dead

Mon. 3/25 Scientific values and cultural values

Reading:

1) “The Kennewick Man Finally Freed to Share His Secrets”—Douglas Peterson

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/kennewick-man-finally-freed-share-his-secrets-180952462/?page=1

Wed. 3/27 Guest Speaker: Dr. Joe Burnell—sampling the organs from cadavers and the ethics of consent.

Reading:

“Research on the Recently Dead”—Floris Tomasini

Fri. 3/29 Ethical limits on cadaver research (day 1)

Reading:

(1) Excerpts from Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers—Mary Roach

Mon. 4/1 Ethical limits on cadaver research (day 2)

Reading:

Excerpts from Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers—Mary Roach

Unit 7: Data Ethics

Wed. 4/3 The challenge of data ethics in the age of big business

(1)“Even The Data Ethics Initiatives Don’t Want to Talk about Data Ethics”—Kalev Leetaru

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2018/10/23/even-the-data-ethics-initiatives-dont-want-to-talk-about-data-ethics/

Fri. 4/5 Biased Algorithms

Reading:

(1) “The Case for Fairer Algorithms”—Iason Gabriel

https://medium.com/@Ethics_Society/the-case-for-fairer-algorithms-c008a12126f8

Mon. 4/8 Data Privacy

(1) “Privacy in the Age of Big Data”—Omer Tene and Jules Polonetsky

https://www.stanfordlawreview.org/online/privacy-paradox-privacy-and-big-data/

Unit 8: Ethics of Human Genetic Enhancement

Wed. 4/10 The ethical questions raised by CRISPR gene-editing technology (day 1)

Reading

(1) “Human Enhancement”—Pew Research Center

http://www.pewinternet.org/essay/human-enhancement-the-scientific-and-ethical-dimensions-of-striving-for-perfection/

Fri. 4/12 The ethical questions raised by CRISPR gene-editing technology (day 2)

(1) “Ethical Issues Raised by Human Enhancement”—Andy Miah

https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/ethics-issues-raised-by-human-enhancement/

Unit 9: Autonomous Military Robots and Morality

Mon. 4/15 The argument in favor of developing autonomous military robots

Readings:

(1) “Military Robots Create a Moral Dilemma”—John Thornhill

https://www.ft.com/content/8deae2c2-088d-11e6-a623-b84d06a39ec2

(2) “Autonomous Military Robots: Risk, Ethics, and Design” (pgs 1-10; pgs 25-40)

--Patrick Lin, George Bekey, Keith Abney

Wed. 4/17 Quiz 2

Fri. 4/19-No Class-Good Friday

Mon. 4/22 Final Paper Rough Draft workshop

Wed. 4/ 24 The argument against developing autonomous military robots

Reading:

(1) “Killer Robots: New Reasons to Worry about Ethics”—Patrick Lin

https://www.forbes.com/sites/patricklin/2016/01/04/killer-robots-new-reasons-to-worry-about-ethics/#262b950c27e5

Fri. 4/26 -Last Class