This is a Government course, cross-listed with the Law School.
The germline editing of the human genome will permanently alter our species biologically, in ways large and small. From the standpoint of political, legal, and humanrights theory, our seminar asks: How might a liberal democratic community today—marked by value pluralism and aspiring to tolerance for different normative cultures—best regulate this confluence of rapid developments in genetic science and technology? Our seminar focuses on the promise of gene manipulation to improve human health andreduce human suffering, as well as on the dangers it poses to both human dignity and human nature.
In modern secular societies such as the USA, traditional theological or metaphysical conceptions of human nature and human dignity compete with contemporary alternatives:natural scientific accounts of what our species is, and social scientific accounts of the individual and social importance of treating members with respect and dignity. Thesecontemporary alternatives deploy post-metaphysical notions of human nature (e.g., as a social construct) and post-theological notions of human dignity (e.g., as the decisionalautonomy of future persons, held in trust by the current generation).
Our seminar asks: How might the American legal system, with inputs from expert medical and bioethical opinion as well as from informed public opinion, plausibly regulate some forms and aspects of human genetic engineering in the coming decades? To answer this question, students identify and creatively extrapolate possible resources in state and federal law as well as in human rights theory. They will draw on assigned readings for examples of relevant regulatory issues.
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students will:
Enhance research skills;
Improve writing skills in the scholarly genre;
Refine analytic skills through careful reading, analysis, and discursive argumentation in defense of an original thesis in the term paper;
Cultivate the capacity to engage in small-group discussion through in-class presentations and participation;
Learn about cutting-edge thinking on moral and legal challenges of regulating biotechnologies in general, and particularly the future possible germline editing of our species—one of the most significant challenges for human rights in the twenty-first century.
GRADING POLICY
Requirements:
(a) One paper, no fewer than 30 pages and no more than 50, based on directed and supervised research in the course materials, addressing one or more issues of legalregulation, either current or proposed; and
(b) One in-class PowerPoint presentation of the student’s paper-in-progress.
The paper is due at the end of the semester. Each student has been assigned a date for a PowerPoint presentation (and may swap dates with another student after informing theinstructor). During the semester, the instructor will closely review drafts of the paper (not graded) and provide written and oral suggestions for improvements in substance andstyle. Upload drafts and essay to the seminar’s Canvas site as Word documents (.doc or .docx, never PDF). No late submissions accepted.
Course grade: final paper determines 100%; course grade may be adjusted for quality of weekly classroom participation and in-class presentation. Students receive feedback ontheir paper-in-progress multiple times over the semester, in writing and orally.
A+ 4.30, A 4.00 - 4.29, A- 3.70 - 3.99, B+ 3.30 - 3.69, B 3.00 - 3.29, B- 2.70 - 2.99, C+ 2.30 - 2.69, C 2.00 - 2.29, D 1.70 - 1.99, F 1.30 - 1.69
(c) Also required but not graded: brief weekly responses to questions from the instructor about the week’s assigned reading. Students cannot earn an A without submitting alldiscussion posts on time, as well as both rough drafts of the paper, unless excused on warranted grounds.
(d) Also required but not graded: participation in two debates, and organization (as a Debate Committee member) of two general class discussions, as specified below.
Gregg, Benjamin 