ARW Winter - 12/9 Class Discussion Notes

On Wed, students brought in their various reactions and discussion questions regarding the Shannon article about bioethical theories and terms. During the discussion and reporting time, some of the interesting questions that I heard were:

1. If you had terminal cancer, would you try to fight and cure it, or would you enjoy life as much as possible? (This class was split on this)
   
2. If you had a terminal disease, would you want the doctor to tell you or not? (Most people seemed to want to know)
   
3. What's the dividing line between autonomy and paternalism? (The Japanese government may be too paternalistic when it comes to some issues such as sexuality--the majority is deciding for the minority. More choice should be allowed.
   
4. What ethical theory does Shannon seem to support the most? (He has a Catholic background, so he may have a deontological bias, but it is not clear)
   
5. What ethical theory do most Japanese people feel comfortable with? (Intuitionalism?)

I enjoyed hearing reports of interesting questions and points at the end. But I also wanted to hear more critical reactions to Shannon. Perhaps I should divide the reporting for critical reactions and free discussion questions? Maybe I will consider that for the Silver discussions next week.