Ethical Decision-Making

Develop the ability to reconcile competing values and goals in support of effective, ethical decision-making, recognizing the effects of philosophical, cognitive and sociological factors in decision-making by individuals and institutions

Week 9: Reading Guide

This week, three students will present 15-minute summaries of their final paper concepts. We will also have Jonathan Beckwith as a guest speaker. Readings for the first class are from Beckwith’s book, where he shares several examples of social and ethical implications of research in the life sciences, including the misuse of science to subjugate different groups of people. The last chapter we read this week describes Beckwith’s efforts to work within the existing power structure of biology research to shift it to greater social responsibility. Such change often occurs so slowly that it only becomes apparent after several decades. We will compare the original report of the ELSI Working Group’s plans with a later article seeking to apply the lessons learned to nanotechnology research. The implications for present-day MIT should be apparent.

Week 12: Reading Guide

In this final week we will hear from a prominent MIT student activist of the 1980s and early 1990s, Steve Penn, who is now a physics professor at a liberal arts college. During all of MIT’s history there has probably never been a student more engaged in activism and protest. Four years after his PhD graduation, and ten years after Penn led the “Tent City” protests of MIT’s real estate development near Central Square, a writer in The Techappropriately described Penn as “a famous student activist.” We will end the class with a brief discussion of the contributions of another famous student activist, Rasheed Auguste (BS 2017, 8 and 22), and the final chapters of the books by Ben Barres and Jon Beckwith.

 

Project

Research proposal describing a pilot project for assessing an Earth system-scale geoengineering technology

Final Paper (Course Version 20.005)

The student is expected to turn in a 10–15 page paper by the last class, in which the ethical and technical issues of a problem are analyzed. This project is a chance for you to explore in greater depth a subject in biological engineering of particular interest to you that has ethical implications. We are open to any subject that relates to bioengineering and ethics, but some possible general topics include exploring the ethics of Crispr/Cas-9, cloning, stem cell research, human testing, GMOs, or human-animal hybrids.

Weekly Writing Assignments

Each week starting the second week of class, students must answer each of the study questions in a paragraph or so in the body of an email.

Final Project

The final project for class is a group project. It should, in the most general sense, explore in-depth an issue or problem in negotiation that interests you. As a starting point, you should be able to say what your point of departure is.

Negotiation Exercise

Throughout the course you will participate in role-playing negotiation exercises. You will be assigned a role, partnered with one or more other students, given a case with instructions and confidential information, and asked to prepare and negotiate.

Problem Set 3

For this problem set you will analyze a sequence of communication and its significance for negotiation.

Problem Set 2

This problem set asks you to analyze your experience in a negotiation. To do well you will have to reflect carefully and analytically on your experience, assess the significance of different factors, and reason about the implications of this experience for future negotiations.

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