# Dilemmas in Bio-Medical Ethics: Playing God or Doing Good?

From 1932 to 1972, the Tuskegee syphilis experiment studied the progression of untreated syphilis in 600 rural African American men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S. government. (Photo by U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Source: National Archives.)

### Instructor(s)

Prof. Erica James

### MIT Course Number

21A.302J / WGS.271J

### As Taught In

Fall 2013

### Level

Undergraduate

###

Some Description
Instructor(s) | Prof.
As Taught In | Spring 2002
Course Number | 2.24
Level | Undergraduate/Graduate
Features | Lecture Notes, Student Work

## Course Description

## Course Features

- Assignments: presentations (no examples)
- Assignments: written (no examples)

## Course Description

This course is an introduction to the cross-cultural study of biomedical ethics, examining moral foundations of the science and practice of Western biomedicine through case studies of abortion, contraception, cloning, organ transplantation and other issues. It evaluates challenges that new medical technologies pose to the practice and availability of medical services around the globe, and to cross-cultural ideas of kinship and personhood. Also discussed are critiques of the biomedical tradition from anthropological, feminist, legal, religious, and cross-cultural theorists.

## Other Versions

## Other OCW Versions

Archived versions:

- 21A.216J Dilemmas in Bio-Medical Ethics: Playing God or Doing Good? (Spring 2005)

## Related Content

## Course Collections

See related courses in the following collections:

### Find Courses by Topic

- Philosophy > Ethics
- Anthropology
- Gender Studies
- African American Studies

Erica James. 21A.302J Dilemmas in Bio-Medical Ethics: Playing God or Doing Good?. Fall 2013. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.

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