This is our catalog of courses. We will occasionally adjust the course listing to reflect the addition of new courses and the retirement of others.
Science offers boundless potential for healing and betterment but also for death and destruction. The ethical principles upon which we base our science research and application shape its path. The Catholic Church holds the dignity of the human person as the central ethical principle to guide all others.
Total classes: 12
Prerequisite: None
Suggested grade level: 10th to 12th
Suggested credit: 1 semester non-lab Science or Philosophy
Description
Science offers boundless potential for healing and betterment but also for death and destruction. The ethical principles upon which we base our science research and application shape its path. The Catholic Church holds the dignity of the human person as the central ethical principle to guide all others. This course examines the dark side of secular science in the twentieth century and its impact on law and society. It then presents an ethical system based on the Catholic view of human dignity and applies it to modern controversies.
Outline
What is Bioethics?
The Eugenics Movement
Research Atrocities
Secular Bioethics
Dignity of the Human Person
Catholic Bioethics
Modern Controversies
Presentations
Natural Law – Introduction
Natural Law – Ethical Divide
Natural Law – Ontological Divide
Natural Law – Potentiality and Genetics
Materials and Homework
Course materials: Alfonso Gomez-Lobo & John Keown (2015). Bioethics and the Human Goods: An Introduction to Natural Law Bioethics. Georgetown University Press. ISBN 1626161631
Homework: This course was taught in a flipped-classroom format. Students were expected to gain familiarity with the assigned media (print, audio, video) prior to class and to participate in the online discussion forum. Meeting time was spent engaging students with the material using the Socratic Method and other active learning approaches. Because there is no live component, no class participation or online discussion forum is assigned.
