GPH-GU 1006: Advanced Introduction to Environmental Ethics (3 credits)
This course situates theoretical developments in practical ethics broadly and in environmental ethics specifically. The course builds on the theoretical materials by examining a series of cases including ethics and agriculture, corporate responsibility and environmental injustice, and the environmental health consequences of war.
GPH-GU 1008: Topics in Bioethics – Mind & Language (4 credits)
Technophilosophy is a two-way interaction between philosophy and technology. First, philosophy illuminates technology, via philosophical reflection on various technologies. Second, technology illuminates philosophy, with reflection on technology shedding light on traditional issues in philosophy. This seminar will explore both sorts of technophilosophy. Technologies that we will focus on will include (especially) artificial intelligence and virtual reality, as well as internet technologies and issues about computation and information. We will examine issues in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, the philosophy of mind and language, and other parts of philosophy.
GPH-GU 1230: Advanced Introduction to Public Health Ethics (3 credits)
This course examines the ethical foundations of public health and ethical issues that arise in the context of public health work. Topics will include, for example, balancing individual autonomy and community health, rights to health and healthcare, culturally respectful global health interventions, and the risk of generating stigma through public health campaigns. We will also discuss the ethics of public health research, exploring topics such as privacy considerations in data gathering and informed consent in a community health context.
GPH-GU 2032: End of Life (4 credits)
Central to philosophical discussions about the end of life is a well-known argument about the rationality of fearing death. That argument raises several puzzles about our asymmetrical attitudes concerning time, and about the badness of death. In addition to the value of death, this course will address related topics from among the following: definitions of death; personal identity; dementia and moral status; the meaning of life; the coherence and desirability of immortality; assisted death, advance directives, and end-of-life care; whether one can be harmed by being born. The general aim of the course is to strengthen your skills in analytical thinking and in substantive philosophical debate of these issues.
GPH-GU 2085: Autonomy, Capacity, and Consent (3 credits)
This course investigates the nature of and relationship between autonomy, decision-making capacity, and informed consent. It is divided into three parts. The first part asks: what is it to act autonomously and why is autonomy important? The second part asks: what is required to have decision-making capacity, understood as the ability of subjects to make their own medical and health-related decisions, and what is its relationship to autonomy? The third asks: what is consent, and why is it important? Although the focus of the course will be on general moral, metaphysical, and legal questions such as these, it will also consider a range of case studies arising in medical, research, and public health settings.
GPH-GU 2105: Thinking Critically & Ethically (1.5 credits)
This course is an introduction to critical thinking, ethics, and writing for public health professionals, who need to communicate public health content and identify communication strategies for different audiences. At the heart of such communications is persuasive writing. The first module introduces students to core reasoning skills such as what counts as a good reason for one’s belief, what is an argument, the difference between a deductive argument and an inductive argument, and so on. Public health professionals are also often involved in devising policies that should be guided by sound ethical principles. The second module introduces students to key ethical theories and ethical issues that illustrate how the promotion of public health can conflict with autonomy, privacy, and social justice.
GPH-GU 2222: Clinical Ethics (3 credits)
Physicians, nurses, and/or ethicists will present each week, for discussion and theoretical analysis, ethical issues that they encounter in their work. Topics include the ethics of using placebos, conflicts of interest and clinical trials, ethics consultations in health care, pain management and end of life, incapacity and surrogate decision-making, balancing patient well-being with patient choice, and reconciling individual with public health. Readings will be drawn from medical and philosophy literature. Students will form Mock Ethics Committees and analyze clinical cases as an actual Hospital Ethics Committee would, and students will also have the opportunity to visit and participate in Hospital Ethics Committees. By the end of the course, students will learn about ethical issues arising out of clinical settings and how to think through these issues.
GPH-GU 5170: Introduction to Public Health (0 credits, Spring)
This course provides an introduction to foundational principles, concepts, and methods in public health. Topics include: the history of public health; public health values and principles; core functions of public health; the role of biostatistics and epidemiology in measuring population health; the use of evidence; environmental, social, and behavioral influences on health; and globalization and health. Note: This class is online and must be taken during your first spring semester.
