Frontiers in bioethics

For attending students: The slides used during the lessons will be available and will form part of the exam material for attending students. In addition, here is a list of suggested readings, organized lesson by lesson, to better follow the course.

Part 1: Basics of Bioethics
· Lesson 1: Ethics, Morality, and the Birth of Bioethics
1. Jonsen, A. R. (2003). The Birth of Bioethics. Oxford University Press. (pp. 3-90)
2. McMillan, J. (2018). The Methods of Bioethics: An Essay in Meta-Bioethics. Oxford University Press. (pp. 1-25)
· Lesson 2: Core Concepts and Epistemological Foundations of Bioethics
1. Reichlin, M. (1994). Observations on the epistemological status of bioethics. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 19(1), 79-102
2. McMillan, J. (2018). The Methods of Bioethics: An Essay in Meta-Bioethics. Oxford University Press. (pp. 28-42)
· Lesson 3: How to Do Bioethics: Methods and Reasoning
1. Huxtable, R. (2013). For and against the four principles of biomedical ethics. Clinical Ethics, 8(2-3), 39-43
2. Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2019). Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford University Press. (Chapter 1)
· Lesson 4: A Bioethics Classic - Abortion I
1. Thomson, J. J. (1976). A defense of abortion. In Biomedical Ethics and the Law (pp. 39-54). Springer US
2. Giubilini, A., & Minerva, F. (2013). After-birth abortion: why should the baby live? Journal of Medical Ethics, 39(5), 261-263
· Lesson 5: A Bioethics Classic - Abortion II
1. Marquis, D. (1989). Why abortion is immoral. The Journal of Philosophy, 86(4), 183-202
2. Thomson, J. J. (1976). A defense of abortion. In Biomedical Ethics and the Law (pp. 39-54). Springer US

Part 2: The Healthcare of the Future and the Need for Rationing
· Lesson 6: The Value of Health
Bognar, G., & Hirose, I. (2022). The Ethics of Health Care Rationing: An Introduction. Routledge. (Chapter 2)
· Lesson 7: Ethics and Cost-Effectiveness
Bognar, G., & Hirose, I. (2022). The Ethics of Health Care Rationing: An Introduction. Routledge. (Chapter 3)
· Lesson 8: The Aggregation Problem
Bognar, G., & Hirose, I. (2022). The Ethics of Health Care Rationing: An Introduction. Routledge. (Chapter 6)
· Lesson 9: Alternative Criteria for Allocating Healthcare Resources: Age and Responsibility
Turoldo, F. (2022). The triage of "blameworthy" patients. Philosophies, 7(5), 99

Part 3: Genetics and Reproduction
· Lesson 10: Ethical Issues in Genetic Testing: NIPT and Newborn Screening
Johnston, J. et al. (2018). Sequencing newborns: a call for nuanced use of genomic technologies. Hastings Center Report, 48(S2), S2-S6
· Lesson 11: Preimplantation Genetic Testing and the Expressivist Argument
1. Buchanan, A. (1996). Choosing who will be disabled: genetic intervention and the morality of inclusion. Social Philosophy and Policy, 13(2), 18-46
2. Savulescu, J., & Kahane, G. (2011). Disability: a welfarist approach. Clinical Ethics, 6(1), 45-51
3. Hofmann, B. (2017). "You are inferior!" Revisiting the expressivist argument. Bioethics, 31(7), 505-514
· Lesson 12: The Future of Reproduction: Ethics of Germline Genome Editing
Gyngell, C., Douglas, T., & Savulescu, J. (2017). The ethics of germline gene editing. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 34(4), 498-513
· Lesson 13: Genetic Enhancement and the Obsolescence Argument
Sparrow, R. (2019). Yesterday's child: how gene editing for enhancement will produce obsolescence—and why it matters. The American Journal of Bioethics, 19(7), 6-15
· Lesson 14: New Procreative Obligations? Procreative Beneficence and the Non-Identity Problem
1. Savulescu, J., & Kahane, G. (2009). The moral obligation to create children with the best chance of the best life. Bioethics, 23(5), 274-290
2. Parfit, D. (1984). Reasons and Persons. Oxford University Press. (Part 4, Chapter 16)
· Lesson 15: Models of Procreative Responsibility
1. Douglas, T., & Devolder, K. (2013). Procreative altruism: beyond individualism in reproductive selection. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 38(4), 400-419
2. Marway, H. K. (2023). Procreative justice and genetic selection for skin colour. Bioethics, 37(4), 389-398
3. Magni, S. F. (2021). In defence of person‐affecting procreative beneficence. Bioethics, 35(5), 473-479

Part 4: Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
· Lesson 16: Ethical Challenges of AI in Medicine
Savulescu, J., Giubilini, A., Vandersluis, R., & Mishra, A. (2024). Ethics of artificial intelligence in medicine. Singapore Medical Journal, 65(3), 150-158
· Lesson 17: AI and the Doctor-Patient Relationship
Dalton-Brown, S. (2020). The ethics of medical AI and the physician-patient relationship. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 29(1), 115-121
· Lesson 18: AI in End-of-Life Decision-Making I
Earp, B. D. et al. (2024). A personalized patient preference predictor for substituted judgments in healthcare: technically feasible and ethically desirable. The American Journal of Bioethics, 24(7), 13-26
· Lesson 19: AI in End-of-Life Decision-Making II
1. Hubbard, R., & Greenblum, J. (2020). Surrogates and artificial intelligence: why AI trumps family. Science and Engineering Ethics, 26(6), 3217-3227
2. Annoni, M. (2025). It is not about autonomy: realigning the ethical debate on substitute judgement and AI preference predictors in healthcare. Journal of Medical Ethics, 51(7), 450-455
· Lesson 20: Conclusions
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Final Notes for Students

Students are required to select at least two articles per part (minimum 8 articles in total) and review the course slides.

· Slides are not mandatory for non-attending students.
· Non-attending students are instead required to read the following textbook:

Chadwick, R. F., & Schüklenk, U. (2020). This Is Bioethics: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons.