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Essay on President's Council on Biomedical Ethics - Final Exam | Phil 365, Exams of Introduction to Philosophy

Material Type: Exam; Professor: Kabasenche; Class: [H] Biomedical Ethics; Subject: Philosophy; University: Washington State University; Term: Spring 2009;

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Biomedical Ethics-PHIL 365
Spring 2009
Dr. Kabasenche Final Exam Review Sheet
--There are two parts to the final exam. Part I is an essay that you will prepare in advance using
the prompt below. Part II will consist of short answer questions taken from the list of questions
in the second part of this sheet. Part I will be very similar to the two papers you‟ve written this
semester. Part II will be like the mid-term exam.
-Part I: Essay
Please write a 2 to 3 page, double-spaced essay on the topic described below. The
grading criteria for the essay will be the same as for the position papers you‟ve written (with the
understanding that you have a limited space in which to make your case). As with the papers, I
will look for a clear thesis in the introduction, reasons to support your thesis, consideration of
one or more objections, and a clear, concise paper overall. You may have no more than 3 pages
of text, plus a works cited page. Name on back as with the position papers.
“Dr. Yury Verlinsky, director of the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago, has
recently predicted that soon „there will be no IVF without PGD‟” (President‟s Council on
Bioethics (in Mappes and DeGrazia), 584). John Robertson says, “[s]ome degree of quality
control would seem logically to fall within the realm of procreative liberty. For many couples
the decision whether to procreate depends on the ability to have healthy children. Without some
guarantee or protection against the risk of handicapped children, they might not reproduce at all”
(Children of Choice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), 33). Thomas Murray says,
“[t]he emphasis here on control and choice does not fit well with our understanding of families.
Good families are characterized more by acceptance than control. Furthermore, families are the
preeminent realm of unchosen obligations” (Murry (in Mappes and DeGrazia), 554). Your
question: Is IVF with PGD a morally good practice?
Part II: Short Answer Questions
-For these, please be prepared to write a 2 to 5 sentence response that demonstrates your
understanding of the issues involved and that answers the question posed. I‟ll have seven
questions, taken from below, on this portion of the final exam, and you‟ll answer six of them.
1. What is the key ethical issue concerning how death is defined and organ acquisition?
2. What is Martin Benjamin‟s answer to the question, “What is it that ceases when we say that
someone has died?”?
3. What are the two main features of what I described as the “paradigm case” for withdrawing
life-sustaining treatment?
4. As we discussed it in class, is Jane the Jehovah‟s Witness who refuses foreign blood products
committing suicide? Why or Why not?
5. Explain the following quote from Vicki Michel: “The point made by the disability community
is that it is not the disability itself that makes life so unbearable that suicide seems a reasonable
solution, but rather the conditions that people with disabilities have to contend with, including
both social attitudes and the lack of accommodation and opportunity” (337-8). Be sure to
address Michel‟s claims about social attitudes and the lack of accommodation and opportunity.
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Biomedical Ethics-PHIL 365 Spring 2009 Dr. Kabasenche Final Exam Review Sheet

--There are two parts to the final exam. Part I is an essay that you will prepare in advance using the prompt below. Part II will consist of short answer questions taken from the list of questions in the second part of this sheet. Part I will be very similar to the two papers you‟ve written this semester. Part II will be like the mid-term exam.

-Part I: Essay Please write a 2 to 3 page, double-spaced essay on the topic described below. The grading criteria for the essay will be the same as for the position papers you‟ve written (with the understanding that you have a limited space in which to make your case). As with the papers, I will look for a clear thesis in the introduction, reasons to support your thesis, consideration of one or more objections, and a clear, concise paper overall. You may have no more than 3 pages of text, plus a works cited page. Name on back as with the position papers. “Dr. Yury Verlinsky, director of the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago, has recently predicted that soon „there will be no IVF without PGD‟” (President‟s Council on Bioethics (in Mappes and DeGrazia), 584). John Robertson says, “[s]ome degree of quality control would seem logically to fall within the realm of procreative liberty. For many couples the decision whether to procreate depends on the ability to have healthy children. Without some guarantee or protection against the risk of handicapped children, they might not reproduce at all” ( Children of Choice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), 33). Thomas Murray says, “[t]he emphasis here on control and choice does not fit well with our understanding of families. Good families are characterized more by acceptance than control. Furthermore, families are the preeminent realm of unchosen obligations” (Murry (in Mappes and DeGrazia), 554). Your question: Is IVF with PGD a morally good practice?

Part II: Short Answer Questions -For these, please be prepared to write a 2 to 5 sentence response that demonstrates your understanding of the issues involved and that answers the question posed. I‟ll have seven questions, taken from below, on this portion of the final exam, and you‟ll answer six of them.

  1. What is the key ethical issue concerning how death is defined and organ acquisition?
  2. What is Martin Benjamin‟s answer to the question, “What is it that ceases when we say that someone has died?”?
  3. What are the two main features of what I described as the “paradigm case” for withdrawing life-sustaining treatment?
  4. As we discussed it in class, is Jane the Jehovah‟s Witness who refuses foreign blood products committing suicide? Why or Why not?
  5. Explain the following quote from Vicki Michel: “The point made by the disability community is that it is not the disability itself that makes life so unbearable that suicide seems a reasonable solution, but rather the conditions that people with disabilities have to contend with, including both social attitudes and the lack of accommodation and opportunity” (337-8). Be sure to address Michel‟s claims about social attitudes and the lack of accommodation and opportunity.
  1. What does Marquis think makes human lives valuable?
  2. George and Tollefsen claim that human embryos are distinct, human, and complete. Explain how each of these features is relevant to their argument that embryos are morally considerable.
  3. Why does Thomson use the violinist example? What part does it play in her overall argument concerning abortion?
  4. What, according to Little, are the two main ways one might respond to the prospect of having motherhood be a part of one‟s identity?
  5. What is the significance of the following quote for Sidney Callahan‟s argument concerning abortion: “But morality also consists of the good and worthy acceptance of the unexpected events that life presents. Responsiveness and response-ability to things unchosen are also instances of the highest human moral capacity” (Munson, 235).
  6. Explain why it matters to Sherwin that we live in a culture of male sexual dominance.
  7. What is the medical and scientific value of pluripotent embryonic stem cells? What is ethically controversial about them?
  8. What is Steinbock‟s interest view concerning moral status?
  9. What is the “twinning objection” and how does the President‟s Council on Bioethics respond to it?
  10. According to our discussion in class, what might be ethically problematic about the following quote from Shinya Yamanaka: “Do not stop stem cell research with human embryos, because patients will die if you do stop” (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2080314.ece).
  11. How does Adrienne Asch use the concept of synecdoche in discussing genetic disability?
  12. How does Kass think a regular practice of genetic abortion will affect our view of those among us with disabilities?
  13. What are possible children and what do Purdy and Parfit say about how we might or might not harm them?
  14. What are Purdy‟s three claims that she uses to argue that it could be unethical to have kids if doing so would cause a serious risk of genetic disease, disorder, or disability for one‟s kids?
  15. How does Singer respond to the claim that it would be wrong to use IVF to have a large family?
  16. Why is the following question important for Sherwin: “Why is it so important to so many people to produce their „own‟ child?” (536)?
  17. Why is Murray concerned about the imposition of market values on family life?
  18. How does Steinbock argue her case that surrogacy is like prenatal adoption?
  19. What, according to Elizabeth Anderson, is the danger of commodifying a person or a relationship?
  20. How are alienation, degradation, and exploitation part of Anderson‟s argument against surrogacy?
  21. How does Robertson distinguish between the ethics of using PGD to select the sex of first- born children and using PGD to balance families?