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Department of Philosophy

MA in Medical Ethics

Programme co-ordinator: Tristan Nash

Introduction to the Course

Health professionals face perplexing ethical issues of many kinds in their day-to-day work, particularly in the current climate of rapid scientific and technological development and changing public and political expectations of health care services. New technologies raise apparently new problems such as the right use of genetic information and the morality of stem cell research, while more long-standing issues such as euthanasia, resource allocation and informed consent continue to be vigorously debated in new contexts.

This MA is designed for health professionals, health care chaplains, ethics committee members and all whose work brings them into contact with these issues. One core module introduces students to the variety of ethical frameworks that have been articulated by philosophers, and shows how these frameworks can be used in thinking about issues in medical ethics. Another core module helps students to develop the study and research skills necessary for the study of Ethics at postgraduate level. A series of optional modules address particular topics such as euthanasia, health care rationing (resource allocation) and human genetics. A further optional module explores a variety of Christian theological approaches to bioethical issues. A supervised dissertation offers the opportunity to explore a particular area of interest in greater depth.

This course will not offer neatly-packaged solutions to complex ethical issues. It will, however, enable students to gain a clearer understanding of these issues and to develop more consistent and informed ways of addressing them.

The MA can be completed in just over two years of part-time study, and must be completed within five years of initial registration. The Medical Ethics pathway can be taken as a pathway either to the MA in Philosophy or to the MA in Theology. Students taking it as a pathway to the MA in Philosophy must choose the module Writing Philosophy; those taking it as a pathway to the MA in Theology must choose the modules Study and Research Methodology and Christian Theology and Bioethics.

Download Application Pack


The MA is divided into two parts:

1. The taught element. Students study six modules chosen from the following list:

Compulsory core modules:

1. Ethical Theory and Medicine [module code: MAME0120]
2. Writing Philosophy [module code: MATP0620]

Optional modules:

1. Euthanasia [module code: MAME0420]
2. Abortion [module code: MAME0220]
3. Ethical issues in Resource Allocation (Health Care Rationing) [module code: MAME0620]
4. Human Genetics [module code: MAME0820]
5. Ancient Medicine: myth and practice [module code: MACLA5920]
6. Computer Ethics [module code: MABE0420]

The following modules are being developed:

1. Ethical issues in Medical Research
2. Ethical Issues at the End of Life


Assessment for the first part of the MA is on the basis of one 5000-word essay or two 2,500-word essays for each module.

Guidelines for submission of postgraduate work are available here.

2. The dissertation

On passing the first part of the MA, students proceed to Part 2. This involves the writing of a 20,000-word research dissertation on a theme relevant to the MA programme, under the supervision of a member of the teaching staff. You should choose a research topic and prepare a proposal in consultation with a member of the teaching staff. The proposal, when completed, must be approved in writing by the Course Director, who will appoint a supervisor. Your supervisor will give guidance and feedback as you work on sections of the dissertation, and will advise you when it is ready for submission.


Study materials

When you enrol for a module - which you can do at any stage in the year - you will receive a pack of study resources, which you can work through at your own pace. The study pack will include the name and contact details of the module tutor, who can be consulted by e-mail, post or phone should you encounter any problems or have any questions in the course of your module work. When you begin work on your module essay(s), you are encouraged to send outlines or drafts to the module tutor for advice and comment.

At Masters level, consulting a wide range of literature, and familiarising yourself with a range of views on issues, is crucial. For this you will need access to a library. Local students will be able to visit and borrow from the University Library in Lampeter. However, even if you cannot visit the Library (but you are in the UK), you will still be able to use it at a distance. You can search the Library catalogue at http://www.lamp.ac.uk/library. Books can be posted to you (the student pays the postage), as can photocopies of material (so long as what is required does not contravene copyright law). Among the Library staff, Ms. Kathy Miles has particular responsibility for postgraduate distance learners; her contact details can be found on the Library website.

In addition to the library support offered from Lampeter, you may, through the UK Libraries Plus scheme, register at two other libraries as a borrower. Your authorisation to join this scheme comes from Lampeter Library.


Diploma and Certificate

Students who pass three of the above modules and decide to proceed no further qualify for the Postgraduate Certificate. Students who pass six of the above modules and decide not to move on to the dissertation qualify for the Postgraduate Diploma.


What is the MA?

The MA is specifically designed to be taken on a part-time basis over a number of years. It is a distance learning degree scheme, based on material prepared by members of our course team. There is no need for you to visit Lampeter at any stage in your study. However, you will always bevery welcome to spend some time here if you would like a period of study in this beautiful part of the world with the full facilities of the university - including your tutors - to hand.

At each stage of the degreescheme you will have one or more tutors to whom you can turn for guidance whenever you feel the need. How much contact you have with your tutors is a matter of your personal choice. While we strongly recommend that you get some feedback on drafts of your essays for your first one or two modules and on draft sections of your dissertation, you may prefer, for the most part, to work through the course material with a minimum of external supervision.

You may start individual modules at any time of the year, and may work through them at the pace that best suits your circumstances. Your tutor will arrange with you deadlines for submission of work. The MA can be completed in just over two years of part-time study, and must be completed within five years of initial registration.

It will often be possible for course tutors to lend books to students, or to produce a photocopy of a particular article that a student needs.

Students are strongly encouraged to stay in regular contact with the individual course tutors, who will be available by phone and/or e-mail whenever you encounter any problems with the course material. Assessment for the first part of the MA is on the basis of a 5000-word essay for each module.


The Dissertation.

Students proceed to the dissertation on passing the first part of the MA. This involves the writing of a 20,000-word essay on a theme relevant to the MA programme, under the guidance of a member of the teaching staff.


Diploma and Certificate

Students who pass three of the above modules and decide to proceed no further qualify for the Postgraduate Certificate. Students who pass six of the above modules and decide not to move on to the dissertation qualify for the Postgraduate Diploma. Since fees may be paid by individual module as you progress through the scheme,you may, without the risk of paying for what you don't do, keep your options open on how far you wish to take the course; and if you have a specific interest in particular aspects of the course - for example, in Marx or Foucault - you may enter the course with the intention of doing only those elements (though you may find you change your mind later!)


Entry requirements

An MA is a postgraduate course,so candidates will normally be expected to have a good first degree, or some equivalent professional experience. While people with a first degree in Philosophy with a particular interest in European Philosophy should find the MA a useful stepping stone to a research degree in that area, the MA is specifically designed to be accessible to people with no formal background in Philosophy. A degree in any discipline satisfies the basic entry requirements,and certain non-traditional qualifications are also acceptable. In particular, applicants with practical experience - perhaps in medicine or in the ministry or related in some other way to the theme of the MA - might well find this an enormously valuable background for academic study of this kind. Many people whose experience is an ideal preparation for further study in this area suspect they are not qualified to apply. Please contact us to discuss the matter.

You will see on the application form that we ask for two academic references. Please do not be alarmed by this! We appreciate that for many applicants this seems like a daunting request (especially if you have been away from academia for a long time). What we really need is two references telling us about you. If we have any doubts about your ability to succeed on the MA, perhaps because of your non-traditional background, we may ask you to submit a short piece of written work as part of the entry procedure.


How much will the MA cost?

The Cost of the MA

Payment:

Students may pay fees by instalments - three instalments a year - by setting up a direct debit with the Finance Office, or pay yearly by cash, cheque or credit cards. Students are normally expected to pay for three modules in their first year, three modules in their second year, and the dissertation in their third year. (Although it is not assumed that they will necessarily complete work on each stage of the MA at this rate.)

*Tuition fees are reviewed annually and increases are made from time to time. Brief description of the modules currently available The following descriptions are in the form of a list of questions that will be addressed in each module. It is not in the nature of this course that we will be telling you the answers to these questions. While individual authors of the course material have their own views on these matters - views that they do not try to conceal - the aim of the course is to help you to reflect on, and develop, your own answers to the questions addressed.


Module Descriptors

CORE MODULES

Ethical Theory and Medicine [MAME0120]

This module outlines and critically discusses a variety of theoretical frameworks that have been developed by moral philosophers for addressing moral issues. The relevance of these theoretical frameworks to medical ethics is illustrated by reference to a range of examples, and students have the opportunity to explore further the connections between theory and practice in medical ethics in their module essays. The following topics are covered:

  • Philosophy and theory in ethics
  • Consequences and moral mathematics
  • Facts and values
  • Kant and the nature of duty
  • Virtue and character
  • Double effect, and the distinction between acts and omissions.

Writing Philosophy [MATP0620]

Module Tutor: Tristan Nash

The aim of this module is to help people who have had little or no experience of writing philosophy, or writing in related disciplines, to acquire some of the fundamental skills required for this. Many of those skills are ones that are required for good writing in any academic discipline; and for much other writing besides. Philosophical writing does, however, make a range of quite specific demands on the author. By the time students have finished this module they should have acquired a clearer picture of what those demands are, along with detailed practice in meeting them. The practice is a fundamental aspect of the teaching involved in the module: a range of exercises, which students are encouraged to submit for feedback, being a central component of it. The module is intended for people with limited recent academic experience of a form relevant to the MA; and would be of particular relevance to people who intend to go on to further postgraduate work after completing the MA. In some case students may be required, or at least strongly urged, to take this module.


Study and Research Methodology [MASS0120]

The module aims to ease your return to study and to give you a firm grounding in the skills that you need to acquire (or polish up!) to succeed at this level. You should gain the technical expertise needed to produce academic work comparable to the professional standards for Theology and Religious Studies. Topics covered include essay writing, book reviewing, writing an encyclopaedia article, preparing a proposal for a Master's level dissertation, submitting a journal article and using computers. There is also a focus on a range of distinctive research skills such as interviewing, participant observation and constructing questionnaires. The module has been written by staff in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and the Centre for Educational Development. You should complete the assignments during your first year of study, but you need not work on this module first. Indeed, you will need to have written an essay for another module, before you can complete all the assignments for this one.


OPTIONAL MODULES

Euthanasia [MAME0420]

In this module, we consider such questions as: What does the examination of actual case histories reveal about the attitudes of doctors and nurses towards euthanasia? Is there a morally significant distinction between active and passive euthanasia: between killing someone and letting her die? Is one just as responsible for failing to prevent harm to others as one is responsible for causing harm to others? Is euthanasia morally equivalent to murder? Can the traditional Roman Catholic 'doctrine of double effect' bring out important differences between the ways in which doctors or nurses may be related to the death of a patient? Does the distinction between 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary' means of treatment throw light on our moral responsibilities towards those with life-threatening illnesses? How should the problem of the allocation of scarce health-care resources influence our thought about euthanasia? (The course text for this module also contains material on suicide, which may be of interest as background reading to the study of euthanasia.)


Abortion [MAME0220]

What is the relation between feminism and abortion? How should we respond to the suggestion that since the foetus is a person, and killing a person is murder, abortion is murder? How is it to be decided whether or not we should say that the foetus is a person: are all human beings people? Is there any significant moral distinction between abortion and infanticide? How, if at all, might doctrines of the 'sanctity of life' be relevant to our view of abortion? Does utilitarianism - the view that actions are wrong only in so far as they cause suffering or reduce happiness - throw light on the morality of abortion? Is utilitarianism an acceptable doctrine? Even if we have to agree that the foetus is a person from the moment of conception does it follow that abortion is morally unacceptable? Can it be argued that there are important respects - perhaps because of the mother's right to control her own body - in which abortion is significantly different from other cases of killing? What light, if any, does a consideration of the virtues throw on the rights and wrongs of abortion? Can the wrongness or permissibility of abortion depend on the age of the woman who has the abortion, the possibility of disabilities in the child, how developed the foetus is? Is child bearing intrinsically worthwhile? This module attempts to clarify moral thinking about abortion through a consideration of questions such as these.


Ethical Issues in Resource Allocation [MAME0620]

This module introduces students to the complex problems associated with the allocation of health care resources at three different levels: micro-allocation (allocation of resources between individual patients), macro-allocation (setting priorities and allocating resources within an institution, a sector or a health care system as a whole) and international (the disparities in availability of health care between nations and regions of the world). The relevance of ethical concepts such as justice and rights to resource allocation is explored. Various criteria and mechanisms for setting priorities, including the quality-adjusted life year (QALY), are critically examined. Students are encouraged to explore the moral issues of resource allocation with reference to their own experience of particular health care systems and to concrete examples referred to in the module study pack.


Christian Theology and Bioethics [MAME0520]

This module is designed to help students, of any faith or none, to understand the basic theological sources and themes that inform many Christian responses to bioethical issues. Students are introduced to the principal sources of Christian ethics: Scripture, tradition, reason and experience. Examples are given of the way in which different Christian traditions give varying weight to each of these sources and use them in different ways. Material drawn from a wide range of Christian traditions is used to illustrate Christian approaches to themes such as:

  • personhood and the value of human life
  • health and disease
  • death
  • professional-patient relationships
  • economics and bioethics
  • non-human animals and the natural world

In each case, the relevance of these basic themes for practice is drawn out using case studies and Christian discussions about topics such as neonatal care, abortion, euthanasia, informed consent, resource allocation, animal experimentation and genetically modified crops. Finally, the module addresses the question of the role which Christian perspectives should play in public debates and policy-making in a pluralist society.


Ethics and Human Genetics [MAME0820]

This module enables students to explore some of the ethical issues and challenges posed by the use of human genetics in medicine; issues and challenges that have been brought into particularly sharp focus by the Human Genome Project and its applications. The module consists of an introductory topic, the science and technology of human genetics, and five main topics: access to genetic information; genetic diagnosis and screening; human identity, behavioural genetics and mental health; genetic manipulation; the commercial exploitation of human genetics research. Students write short essays (formative assignments, which do not contribute to their formal assessed work) on some of these topics under the guidance of the module tutor, before selecting a further topic from the list for their final 5,000-word assessed essay.


Ancient Medicine: Myth and Practice [MACLA5920]

Module Tutor: Dr David Noy

'Scientific' Greek and Roman medicine was based on a mixture of fixed ideas, misconceptions and (sometimes) enlightened thinking. Some people preferred to rely on divine aid or home-made remedies. The module looks at the main medical and pseudo-medical writers and at some of the specific health issues that they faced. It will not give you a complete history of medicine in the Ancient World, but will look in depth at some aspects of it. The period covered will be approximately 430 BC to AD 200, but some later material may be included. Topics covered will include: Hippocrates, Asclepius, women's bodies in Greek medicine, epidemics: Hippocratic doctors in action, miracle cures, Soranus and Galen, surgery and army medicine, family planning, plagues, Aelius Aristides. The module is delivered by handouts, video- and audio-tapes, and through the web.


Computer Ethics [MABE0420]

Module Tutor: Dr. James Luchte

This module deals with the rapid advance of information technology (IT) which has introduced 'society' into a new age - the age of the information society.

There is no doubt that the information technology revolution surpasses both the agricultural and the industrial revolutions in social significance. The new reality of the information economy enables people to earn their living by working with words, numbers and ideas. The increasing use of computers and computer networks affects rapidly the way that people live, communicate, work and entertain. Humans and their activities are widely connected to and sometimes totally dependent on computer systems and tools. But as every technological advance has both advantages and disadvantages, likewise computer technology is responsible for creating both benefits and problems.

Within the digital world of the information age human behaviour seems to be underlined by novel moral standards where traditional ethical questions are reexamined and new are emerge. Computers have become the principal tool for political power, authority and propaganda as well as of electronic crime, fraud, surveillance and security. The centralization, distribution and control of information results a different kind of modern discrimination between the 'poor in information' and the 'rich in information'.

Moreover, human relationships are underlined by new parameters of distant and impersonal communication; malfunction and misuse of computer can cause serious problems to individuals and groups; stock markets, banks, businesses and governmental organizations are totally depended on information systems as well as on the reliability and the integrity of digital data; expert systems and artificial intelligence mimic human intelligence sometimes with unpredictable or unreliable results; intellectual property rights cannot be easily defined and protected by the law; malicious viruses and skilful hackers invent computer networks and the rights of personal data, privacy and anonymity are frequently ignored.


MODULES UNDER DEVELOPMENT

The following modules are currently being developed:

Ethical Issues in Medical Research

Ethical Issues at the End of Life


The University

Apart from the ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the University of Wales, Lampeter, is the oldest university institution in England and Wales. Founded in 1822 as an independent degree-conferring institution, and originally known as St David's College, it was eventually incorporated into the federal University of Wales and, from 1971, was known as Saint David's University College, Lampeter. In 1996 its name was changed once more (to bring it into line with that of the other constituent colleges of the university) and it is now known as The University of Wales, Lampeter.

Situated in one of the loveliest and least spoiled areas of Britain, Lampeter lies some ten miles from Aberaeron on the coast of Cardigan Bay, and some twenty miles from Aberystwyth in the north and the same distance from Carmarthen in the south. From these two towns London is easily reached by train in about four hours. The National Library of Wales, one of the great copyright libraries of Britain, is located in Aberystwyth. The proximity of the sea to the west and the mountains to the north offer unparalleled opportunities for sailing, mountaineering, pony-trekking and walking.



For further information please contact:

Tristan Nash
Department of Philosophy,
University of Wales, Lampeter,
Ceredigion SA48 7ED
Telephone: +44 (0)1570 424846
E-mail: Tristan Nash


You may download an application pack here. Completed application forms should be submitted to:

Mandy Holder
Postgraduate Office
University of Wales, Lampeter,
Ceredigion SA48 7ED
Tel: + 44 (0)1570 424748
E-mail: Mandy Holder