EDST 391 Ethics & the Human Genome

Name:
Date:
"Calendar"

Assignment for Day 5

The pursuit of medical utopias

Readings:

• Medical utopias: Ethical reflections about emerging medical technologies, by B. Gordijn, 2006.
  • Chapter 2: Basic concepts (pp. 7-14)
  • Chapter 3: Medical utopian thinking (pp. 15-38).

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Writing assignment:

• Background: These readings place medical utopias in historical context, past and future, and describe the human enthusiasms that animate them. They also describe new “utopian” medical technologies currently at different stages of development, from first implementation, to clinical tryouts, and to still mostly just theoretical possibilities.
• Task:
  1. What, in your view, is the essence of this utopianism and why does it persist? Do you see signs of this utopian attitude in everyday life--in yourself, your friends, TV shows, etc? Please explain.
  2. Now look again at Economist. To what extent does it represent the sort of medical utopianism that your readings describe? How so —or not? Please refer to specific passages in the The Economist article to support your points.

Also be prepared to:

• Specify a general topic for which you would like to be a “team leader” (genetic screening, forensic genetics, patenting genes and new forms of life, etc.). We will decide topics for remaining weeks.

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