Course Overview

Situational ethical principles such as research ethics for research laboratories and medical ethics for hospitals do not always correspond well each other in giving us a clear direction in pursuing the best quality of life in modern society. Rather than taking individual principles for granted, this course attempts to understand how we may disentangle somewhat conflicting ethical principles. In so doing, this course provides unique perspectives to ethical principles by incorporating cultural and historical contexts of human rights and environmental concerns.

Learning Achievement

This course helps you to place ethical concerns within a context of practical issues. You will be able to explain about the importance of properly informed decision-making, concerning your research, science development, human rights, and animal rights/welfare. In particular, for example, you will discuss about how you may untangle the webs of conflicting interests to solve issues related to mercy killing, blood transfusion, and birth control/eugenics by looking at four salient biomedical priciples: autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice.

Competence

修士レベル
知の活用力・マネジメント能力・コミュニケーション能力・国際性
博士レベル
知の創成力・マネジメント能力・コミュニケーション能力・リーダーシップ力・国際性

Course prerequisites

特になし

Grading Philosophy

1 Evaluation/2 Percentage
In-class contribution/ 50%
Essay assignment/ 50%
*Minumum 70% of attendance is required.

3 Comments on Grading Practices for This Course
You may wonder why you received A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, and other grading marks for your paper. Here is roughly what it means.

A+ or A: This paper has an excellent quality in terms of essay organization, writing skill, originality, mature insights, and independent argument. It is based on your considerable research effort and the sound and original interpretation of sources. The paper is also accompanied with clear and appropriate academic citation and references.

A-: This paper demonstrates its good quality of essay organization, writing skill, originality and independent argument in most part of the discussion. It is based on good research effort and the sound interpretation of sources. The paper is also accompanied with clear and appropriate academic citation and references.

A-/B+: This paper has a potential to be qualified as A- paper with some good revision effort.

B+ or B: This paper contains some good quality discussion with independent argument or insight. However, it falls short in essay organization and clarity of its writing. The argument may be inconsistent at some point or not cohesive enough to make a cogent discussion throughout the paper. It is based on some research effort but has a good potential to be improved by more research work and writing refinement.

B-: This paper basically understands the requirement of the course assignment, but falls short in fully expressing the importance of paper topic. It shows some effort of research on the paper topic but do not effectively convey your thoughts and analysis. Or it does not properly cite sources.

C+, C: This paper has some serious problem with essay organization, writing skill, originality and independent argument. It does not seem to respond to the assignment objective properly though it may be greatly improved with further research and writing improvement.

C-: This paper does not seem to understand the assignment objective. It does not seem to be based on research. However, this paper can be improved with additional research effort and better understanding of essay writing.

D: This paper fails to respond to the course requirement. It needs to resubmit or redo the assignment. Or it may have problem with plagiarism or academic honesty.

Course schedule

Essay assignment: research paper
Place to submit: Assignment Submission Box in Natural Sciences Bldg. A209
Due: TAB
Place to pick up your marked papers: Natural Sciences Bldg. A209 Return Box(mid January)
*Or email Matsui for picking up your paper at his office.Your research paper must be written in English. The topic for your research is to be chosen by yourself from one of the contents discussed in this course. After choosing your topic, you need to articulate your analytical opinion in two pages (double space, 12 point “Times New Roman” font). Your writing must be done in an essay format, including footnotes or endnotes and bibliography. In articulating your analytical opinion, please also take into account three sources or more (academic articles or book chapters) and properly cite them in the text. After submission, you will receive comments and marks, and the papers will be returned to you. Recommendable Writing Style Manuals:
？ Chicago Manual of Style (University of Tsukuba Central Library call#021.03-Ma48);
？ MLA (Modern Language Association): http://www.mla.org/style_faq
？ APA (American Psychological Association): http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
？ Council of Science Editors (CSE)’s Scientific Styles and Format.
？ Or use internationally well-recognized academic journals.*Warning on Plagiarism: Every academic writer must not plagiarize in writing assignment no matter how short the paper may be. If one takes the words, ideas, or research of another person(s) without proper citation as if these were his or her own, such a person is considered to have committed the act of plagiarism. Plagiarism is intellectual theft and a clear violation of the code of ethics and behavior, which often result into a severe penalty. Some students find web sites (e.g., Wikipedia) tempting and copy a large portion of it without citation. Please be aware such a work cannot be considered worth being part of admitting a credit in this course.About In-Class Contribution
This course seeks to secure a safe learning environment, in which all students are welcome to express their opinions without worrying about making mistakes. You are expected to share your opinion with other students and learn from each other with due respect. Keeping this in mind as the basic underlying principle of this course, I occasionally ask you to express or write your opinion in progress about some issues that are salient in applied ethics.
Schedule (subject to slight changes)
Day 1
9:00~9:30 Course Orientation (Matsui)
9:30~12:00 Bioethics, Human Rights, and the Environment (Matsui)
13:30~16:30 Research Ethics(Matsui)
16:30~17:00 Summary & Discussion (Matsui)
Day 2
9:00~12:00 Video: “The Cove” (Matsui)
Lecture: Animal Rights and Welfare (Matsui)
13:30~16:30 Industrial Risk Management (Ogami)
16:30~17:00 Summary & Discussion (Matsui)

Course type

Lectures

Online Course Requirement

Instructor

Matsui Kenichi,ohgami akira

Other information

The course will be taught in English.
英語で授業。

Site for Inquiry

Link to the syllabus provided by the university