ETHICAL ISSUES IN EAST ASIAN THOUGHT

EAS 345  ・  REL 345

Fall 2006  Class No. 14868

Class Time and Location: MW 4:15–5:35 in HU 133

Instructor: Mark Blum

Office: HU 254e

Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 1:00–2:00

Phone: 442-4183

e-mail: mblum@albany.edu

Required Textbooks & Other Readings:           

Class Reader available for purchase at Shipmates copy center in Stuyvesant Plaza

ERes selections available online at university library Electronic Reserve section.

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites for this course, though some knowledge of the history and thought of India, China, and/or Japan will be helpful. The course and all the readings will be in English and no knowledge of the Japanese language is expected.

General Education Categories

This course fulfills no General Education requirements.

 

Course Description:

This course will explore some of the most difficult ethical issues confronting the world today from the perspective of the cultural traditions of India, China, and Japan. As we cannot consider all important ethical issues relevant to our times, the major topics selected for this course will all center around  bioethical rather than behavioral themes: abortion, euthanasia, suicide, brain-death and organ transplants. Time permitting, we will also look at cloning. Due to differences in the level of concern in each tradition under discussion, not all topics will be considered equally. The ethics of organ transplants and the meaning of brain death is a serious issue to the Japanese, but has generated far less controversy within China and India, for example. The format will be that of short lectures followed by instructor-led discussions. A series of relevant readings have been selected that are geared to inform the class as to how traditional and modern representative voices within these societies have viewed these problems, and it is essential that students prepare for class by reading these essays before the discussion. Active class participation is expected of everyone, and students should feel free to voice their critical opinions regarding what they have read.

Grading:

Attendance is mandatory for all classes except for reviews, or as indicated by the instructor. The research paper will be on a topic relevant to ethics or morality in Asia, and the oral presentation will be a 5 minute summary of the research paper.

          Class preparation and participation:                                     20%

          3 Written assignments of 2-3 pages (typed)                         30%

          Research Paper                                                                 20%

          Oral Presentations                                                               10%

          Final Exam                                                                          20%

Schedule:

Date             Topics                                                                      Readings

 

Sept 6    Introduction to the course                  

Sept 11  Bioethics                                                        Healthy Give Organs to Dying

                                                                                    U.S. Acts to Stop Assisted Suicides

Sept 13  Bioethics                                                        The Foundations of Bioethics

Sept 18  Bioethics in Asian contexts                              Is There an Asian Bioethics?

Sept 20  Stem cell research                                          ERes #1

             

Sept 25 The Buddhist tradition 1                                  Suicide and Euthanasia             

Sept 27  The Buddhist tradition 2                                  Abortion and Contraception

Oct 2      No Class — Holiday                                                     

Oct 4      Indian traditional views of suicide                    ERes #2

Oct 9      Indian traditional views of abortion      ERes #3

Oct 11    Chinese traditional views on suicide 1 Suicide and the Family in Pre-                                                                                                               Modern Chinese Society              

Oct 16    Chinese traditional views on suicide 2 Suicide and Social Change in China

Oct 18    Chinese traditional views on euthanasia           Confucian Ethic of Death with Dignity                                                                                                    and Its Contemporary Relevance

Oct 23    Chinese views of euthanasia & abortion          Cross-Cultural Research on Euthanasia                                                                                                 and Abortion

Oct 25    Abortion and population control                      Abortion in China        

                   

Oct 30    Suicide in Japan                                              Suicide as Sympton

Nov 1     Suicide in Japan 2                                           Giving up the Body                              

Nov 6     Japanese views on Euthanasia             Japanese Perspectives on Euthanasia

Nov 8     Japan’s restriction on organ transplans            Organ Transplants

Nov 13   What is brain death in Japan                           The Unnatural as Ideology: Contesting Brain                                                                              Death in Japan

Nov 15   Capitalism & organ donation              Money Talk, Money Kills — The Economy of                                                          Transplantation in Japan and China          

Nov 20   guest lecture

Nov 22   No Class — Holiday

Nov 27   student presentations                                                      

Nov 29   student presentations                                                      

Dec 4     student presentations

Dec 6     student presentations                                     

Dec 11   Review                                                                          

Dec 20 (Wed) FINAL EXAM from 3:30AM to 5:30PM