700.702.11
The Ethics of Making Babies

Cancelled

Location
East Baltimore
Term
Summer Institute
Department
Berman Institute (Bioethics)
Credit(s)
2
Academic Year
2018 - 2019
Instruction Method
TBD
Start Date
Monday, June 18, 2018
End Date
Friday, June 22, 2018
Class Time(s)
M, Tu, W, Th, F, 1:30 - 4:20pm
Auditors Allowed
No
Available to Undergraduate
No
Grading Restriction
Letter Grade or Pass/Fail
Course Instructor(s)
Travis Rieder
Contact Name
Travis Rieder
Frequency Schedule
One Year Only
Description
There is good reason to believe that the world is now overpopulated, and that human numbers are exacerbating other serious global problems, such as food security, fresh water shortage, and climate change. Could such facts about sustainability generate moral burdens on individuals not to have kids? Or not to have too many? Are there other good moral reasons not to have children? Or limits to how we should make children? The assumption behind this course is that, uncomfortable or not, the arguments concerning the morality of procreation are too powerful to ignore. The primary goal in this class, then, is to ask and begin to answer the question, Is it permissible to create a new child?
Examines one of the most morally significant decisions people face: whether or not to create a new person. Explores our pronatal outlook—a positive moral outlook on the activity of making babies. Considers why it is uncomfortable, and perhaps even threatening, to suggest that procreation is an activity that is subject to a whole variety of moral requirements. Engages students in asking and beginning to answer the question, is it permissible to create a new child.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
  1. Identify and formulate a rigorous argument
  2. Engage critically with an argument that you encounter
  3. Empathetically and charitably dialogue with an interlocutor on an important and personal issue
  4. Defend a substantive position on the permissibility of procreation
Instructor Consent
No consent required
Special Comments

Students are required to complete assignments prior to the start of class. The final assignment will be due on July 13, 2018

Class will meet in Deering Hall; LLC Room