Reflections on debate

Good on STS• Groups discussed hardware fixes– Installing features to prevent the turntable from

misaligning

• Procedures– Slowing down patient treatment and having operators

take more responsibility for safety

• Stakeholders– Manufacturers and Government Agencies (FDA) need

to take more responsibility for safety and for coordinating information

Some Gaps

• Balancing free and informed consent (FIC) with paternalism– What can patients know and how fully can they participate in

decisions concerning their welfare?

• Safety and Risk– Good on comparing risks of continuing treatment versus stopping

treatment

• Responsibility– Case raises the problem of many hands. Where there are many

participants and something goes wrong, how do we distribute responsibility and blame

• Use the tests and the values more

Exam #2: Biomatrix and Ed Laptops• Jeopardy Responsibility

• Jeopardy 5– Educational laptops

• Jeopardy 4– Justice– Statement of Values

• Jeopardy 3– Free Speech

• Jeopardy 1template– Biomatrix

Dramas

Decision Point for Debate 2

• In decision point six, Gooderal and Ibarra decide to blow the whistle on Hughes for skipping the environmental tests on the analogue to digital chips– Construct an argument for or against whistle blowing in this

situation– What is whistle-blowing? When is it permissible? When is it

obligatory– What benefits does whistle blowing produce? What harms does it

bring about?

• Your debate presentation and commentary should address these basic issues in whistle blowing. But the central focus is whether whistle blowing is the most responsible form dissent can take in this particular situation.

Decision Point for Debate 3• Companies with military contracts recruit heavily at UPRM. For

example, Hughes is now a part of Raytheon which traditionally sends interviewers to UPRM job fairs

• Assume that you have pacifist views on warfare. Then consider whether you have an obligation to set these “issues of conscience” aside when applying for work or when asked as a part of your job to work on an arms development project.

• Do business professionals (accountants, finance and marketing experts, strategic planners, industrial managers, and information systems experts) have an obligation to set aside pacifist and other conflicting views of conscience when employed by companies who have military contracts.

• Construct an argument for or against this thesis. Or describe situations in which it holds and those in which it does not hold