PHI 227 Biomedical Ethics

Students are required to abide by the following guidelines

I. Case Analysis

1. Provide a succint summary of the case, identify the key players and relevant factual details.
2. Identify the key ethical issue of the case.
3. Present positions on the ethical issue from one or more ethical theories discussed in class, i.e., deontology, utilitarianism, virtue theory, etc.
4. state your own solution based on the theory that you accept and indicate what you think is wrong with the approach(es) you oppose.

II. Article Analysis

1. State the author's thesis
2. Reconstruct the author's argument
   1. Identify the premises of the argument
   2. Indicate what kind of argument it is, deductive, inductive, analogical, etc.
3. Evaluate the argument
   1. Are the premises true?
   2. Is the reasoning valid? Are there any logical fallacies involved in it? Has an ethical theory been misapplied?
4. State your own position. You can either indicate how the author's argument may be improved in case you basically agree with him or defend a contrary position.