Name:
Date:
"Calendar"
Assignment for Day 8
What do real
people seek and value?
Readings—review again:
· All that are relevant
Writing assignment:
· Background: As explained in Medical Utopias, utopias are visions of what mankind’s “ideal circumstances” would be—that is, what would be “best” for mankind. This raises the question of “what is best?” And, who determines what is best? Today’s medical utopians speak as if they are offering what we want most—technologies to eradicate disease, disability, the infirmities of old age, and imperfections in ourselves and our children.
· The big question: Is this really what most people seek, or value most of all, in their own lives? What, in fact, do they say gives their lives meaning?Is this what we’d get if we “bought what the utopians are selling?”
· Task: (a) Figure out an effective way to capture these deep hopes and values among people you know. (b) Then survey individuals of different ages and life circumstances. (c) Write up what they seem to seek or value most in their lives, themselves, and others; and (d) to what extent it fits—or doesn’t—the medical utopians’ implicit view of the good life.