Program Overview

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Program Overview

The program in question is a bioethics course titled "Ethics in Life Sciences and Healthcare: Exploring Bioethics through Manga." This course is offered by Kyoto University and is designed to explore key ethical issues surrounding crucial problems that profoundly impact life from birth to death.

Course Details

• Faculty/Graduate School: Graduate School of Letters
• Language: English
• Instructor: Satoshi Kodama, Professor of Ethics at Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University
• Research Interests: Utilitarianism and bioethics

Syllabus

The course syllabus includes the following topics:

• Reproductive technology such as surrogacy and sex-selection of the baby
• Informed consent
• Abortion
• The use of medical technology for the purpose of enhancement
• Euthanasia
• Living donor organ transplantation
• Cloning technology
• ES cells and iPS cells
• Lifespan and eternal life
• Brain death and organ transplants

Course Goals

• Understand basic terms for bioethics
• Learn the basics of ethical arguments
• Understand how decisions are made on critical bioethics issues
• Familiarize oneself with regulations and public policies related to bioethical issues in Japan and other countries

Schedule and Contents

The course is structured over several weeks, covering various topics in bioethics:

• Week 1: The Ethics of Assisted Reproductive Technology
• Week 2: The Ethics of Truth-Telling
• Week 3: Is Abortion Murder?
• Week 4: What’s wrong with Enhancement?
• Week 5: Is Euthanasia Wrong?
• Week 6: Living-Donor Organ Transplantation
• Week 7: Cloning Technology
• Week 8: ES Cells and iPS Cells
• Week 9: Lifespan and Eternal Life
• Week 10: Brain Death and Organ Transplants

Course Requirements

No previous knowledge of bioethics is needed.

Textbooks/References

The course's contents are based on the book "EXPLORING BIOETHICS THROUGH MANGA: Questions on the Meaning of 'Life'" by Satoshi Kodama & Natutaka (2018).

Disclaimer

The intention of this course is to present different arguments and perspectives on various topics in bioethics, without aiming to instill any particular perspective, religious or otherwise, on each topic.