Philosophy 87: Freshman Seminar

Perfection and the Human Genome

 

Winter 2005

 

H&SS 7077                                                                                                  

M 10:30-11:50

 

Professor Donald Rutherford                                                       

Office hours: M 4-5, W 2-3, or by appÕt (HSS 8046)

Office phone: 4-6802

Email: drutherford@ucsd.edu

 

Knowledge of the human genome promises unprecedented power over human life.  Does this knowledge come cost-free?  Can we be counted on to use it wisely?  This seminar will consider ethical issues related to genetic testing, gene therapy and gene enhancement.

 

I.          Text:

 

Philip Kitcher, The Lives to Come (Simon and Schuster, 1997) (available on-line from Amazon for $10.20, and from Barnes & Noble or UCSD Bookstore for $15)

 

II.         Requirements

 

This is a one-unit freshman seminar offered on a P/NP basis.  There are no exams or writing assignments.  The expectation is that you will be present for each meeting of the seminar, that you will have done the assigned reading and that you will contribute to the discussion.  Anyone who misses more than two meetings without a documented medical excuse will receive an automatic NP.

 

III.        Schedule of Meetings

 

The seminar will meet six times on January 3, 10, 24, 31, February 7 and 14.

 

January 3      Introduction: What are the Issues?

 

January 10    Against Perfectionism

Reading: Michael Sandel, ÒThe Case Against Perfectionism,Ó Atlantic Monthly, April 2004 (handout)

 

January 24    To Test or Not To Test?

                        Reading: Kitcher, chs. 1-3, 6

 

January 31    Therapy and Enhancement

                        Kitcher, chs. 5, Interlude, 8-9, 11

 

February 7    The Quality of Life

                        Reading: Kitcher, chs. 10, 12-13

 

February 14  The Lottery of Life

                        Reading: Kitcher, ch. 14, Postscript

 

 

Types of Genetic Intervention

 

1.         Direct genetic intervention

            a.         gene therapy: normal or desired genes are inserted into somatic (body tissue) cells or germline cells (gametes, or embryo stem cells).  Currently limited to somatic cell therapies and cloned normal genes from other human beings or nonhuman animals

            b.         gene surgery: abnormal or undesirable genes are Òswitched off,Ó so that they no longer produce their distinctive effects

 

2.         Indirect genetic intervention

            a.         genetic pharmacology: use of knowledge about genes to design drugs that either substitute for the products of normal genes (e.g. insulin), or counteract the effects of an abnormal gene

            b.         embryo selection: IVF, DNA analysis, implanting embryo with desired characteristics (e.g, sex)

            c.         genetic testing

                        i.          reproductive genetic testing: genetic testing of prospective parents prior to conception, or of fetus after conception (e.g. Tay-Sachs, HuntingtonÕs disease, Down syndrome; cystic fibrosis)

                        ii.         therapeutic genetic testing: performed on infants at birth (phenylketonuria [PKU]; hemochromatosis)