Bioethics is a field of applied philosophy that encompasses healthcare ethics but also confronts and attempts to resolve the ethical questions raised by new developments in science and technology. The purpose of this beginning course is to help students become perceptive about the deeper dimensions of issues such as cloning, stem cell use, reproductive technologies, genetic interventions, synthetic life, new developments in neuroscience, the design of clinical research, advance directives and the like. This will be accomplished by providing students with some of the basis tools of ethical reasoning and analysis and also helping students to identify the pertinent human rights issues when they arise. Each class will focus on at least one important controversy and debate will be encouraged.