Ethics Challenges and Responses

In this edition of Ethics Challenges and Responses, the articles fall under the theme of “Vulnerability and Responsibility,” which is the theme of this year’s Presidential Colloquium. Per Institute Director, Dr. Wueste: it was chosen with an eye to alignment with the summer reading program for incoming freshmen. (This year incoming freshmen read The Iguana Tree, a novel written by Clemson alumna Michel Stone, which, she told the assembled freshman class, is about “hope and humanity.”) Colloquium events will explore the relationship between vulnerability, noting that we are all vulnerable in some measure, and responsibility, not in the sense that presupposes culpability, but in the sense of what one can be reasonably expected to do—what one's responsibilities are. The colloquium will also explore whether and to what extent the vulnerabilities of citizens entail societal responsibilities.

The aim of the Presidential Colloquium is to provide opportunities for Clemson University students and faculty, as well as members of the community to come together to explore important issues. The colloquium comprises various events spread over the academic year, e.g., speakers, theatrical performances, panel discussions, and films. In every case the event is linked to the colloquium theme, which is selected with an eye to its integration “across the curriculum.”

Scientists Develop Technique ToImplant False Memories In Mice, Raising Alarm Among Ethicists 

Aug 19th, 2013 • Posted in: Institute for Global Ethics Newsline

The journal Nature reports that an experiment in which false memories were implanted into the brains of mice has raised concerns among neuroethicists. “That was a bell-ringer, the idea that you can manipulate the brain to control the mind,” James Giordano, chief of neuroethics studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, tells Nature. Neuroethicists note that while there undoubtedly are positive outcomes to manipulating memories — such as repressing alcoholic cravings or altering criminal behavior patterns — there’s an ethical gray area involving altering what one scientist interviewed for the piece called “the essence of the self.”

A Life-or-DeathSituation

July 21, 2013 * Posted in the New York Times Magazine 

If Margaret Pabst Battin hadn’t had a cold that day, she would have joined her husband, Brooke Hopkins, on his bike ride. Instead Peggy (as just about everyone calls her) went to two lectures at the University of Utah, where she teaches philosophy and writes about end-of-life bioethics. Which is why she wasn’t with Brooke the moment everything changed.

Brooke was cycling down a hill in City Creek Canyon in Salt Lake City when he collided with an oncoming bicycle around a blind curve, catapulting him onto the mountain path. His helmet cracked just above the left temple, meaning Brooke fell directly on his head, and his body followed in a grotesque somersault that broke his neck at the top of the spine. He stopped breathing, turned purple and might have died if a flight-rescue nurse didn’t happen to jog by. The jogger resuscitated and stabilized him, and someone raced to the bottom of the canyon to call 911. (more)

Behind the cover story…

 July 22, 2013 *Posted in the New York Times Magazine

Robin Marantz Henig wrote about Peggy Battin, a bioethicist who must confront her beliefs about a person’s right to die when her own husband suffers a grave accident. Henig’s latest book, “Twentysomething: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck?” was based on the article “What Is It About 20-Somethings?” that appeared a few years ago in the magazine, where she is a contributing writer.

FromThe Chronicle of Higher Education: "Coach Makes the Call"

September 2, 2013 * Brad Wolverton

This fall thousands of college football players will line up to participate in one of the country's most popular and violent sports. In any given week, hundreds of those players will come off the field with concussions or other serious injuries. Determining when those athletes return to play is the job of athletic trainers and team physicians, who are charged with keeping players out of harm's way. (more)

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: "Report Proposes 28 Ideas for Improving College Sports"

September 4, 2013 * Brad Wolverton

 A new report that comes in response to scandals at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill could provide a road map for college-sports leaders hoping to strengthen ties between academics and athletics. (more)