A summary of all the lectures of the course 'Trends in stem cell biology' of 2019. All lectures with the important figures and not only text from the slides but also extra notes from the extra explanation from the lecturer. A summary that is very useful!
Trends in stem cell biology
04-09-2019
Introduction to ethics
CRISP-CAS baby: what went wrong in this particular case? Is this a controversy or not?
- He did not asked approval beforehand
- Playing God
- Didn’t take into account the consequences
- In the basic setup, there was not much difference in what scientists normally do
Facts
- Facts matter, other things are opinions
- Het volk → don’t need to take their opinion into account, because otherwise we couldn’t do
science
- Fact → knowledge about science
- Ethical reflection you always take into account the context
Facts and values are inseparable
- There are better topics and there are worst topics
o Science that make the world a better place
o Or science to get more knowledge
- Ethics → part and partial to become a good scientist
Subjectivism in ethics
- Ethical subjectivism is the idea that moral opinions are based on our feelings and nothing
more. On this view, there is no such thing as ‘objective’ right and wrong.
- Can’t define ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ → ethics is subjective → nothing to model/discuss
- There is consensus on many issues
- Models are meant to try to give you a way to argument about the morals
Models → normative ethics
- Norms come from values
- Try to provide models to explain where these norms come from
- Models are not theoretical things but can help you to argument your actions
What are ethical theories?
- Explain what makes an action right or wrong
- Ethical theories versus particular ethical judgements
- Analogy with scientific theories and observations
- The different models are competing with each other
- You don’t have the right theory with the right answer → they compete
Ethics not same as morals
- Morality: I think that this is right or I think that this is wrong
- Ethics: the justification of your moral beliefs
Ethics is not same a law
- The fact there is a law, does not mean that the law implies a good moral judgement
,Trends in stem cell biology
04-09-2019
- Like: genetic modification is allowed according to the law, but people can still be against it by
moral opinion
- Ethics and law are not the same → law is not a guides
Some kinds of ethical theory
- Consequentialism
o The rightness/wrongness of an action is determined by its consequences
o Action → result
o Whether to perform an experiment → look at what happens if I do this experiment
→ compare the positive with the negative consequences → does the positive
outweighs the negative?
▪ Animal experiments for medicine → morally justified
▪ Animal experiments for better make-up → nor morally justified
o The consequences always need a context
o Trolley problem → train track → train can go straight or can go to the right
▪ On one side there is a wall → train smash → 5 people on train died
▪ On the other side someone lies on the track → run over 1 person when you
does something by switching the rail
▪ How do you judge this situation?
• Count the deaths
• What kind of people are on the train/on the rail → does that matter?
→ much more complicated
• In one scenario you do nothing and the other scenario you do
something
o Is there an conceptional difference
→ you are actively choosing to do something/nothing
→ you get involved in the situation, where you weren’t
involved in
o We always assume that something happens, because we don’t know what is really
going to happened. You can only make a hypothesis.
▪ We don’t have perfect knowledge
▪ We don’t know every variables
o Example: utilitarianism
▪ The right action is the one that promotes the greatest happiness of the
greatest number (maximizes social utility
• Make a lot of decisions to define these concepts
• You have to think collectively
• What is acceptable and what is not acceptable
▪ The societal character → community
o Another example: ethical egoism
▪ The right action is the one that promotes the greatest happiness of the agent
(maximizes the agent’s utility)
▪ If everyone try to maximize their happiness, this will lead to overall more
happiness
- Deontology
o The rightness/wrongness of an action is determined by inherent features of the
action itself, or by an inherently valid rule
o Rule → action
,Trends in stem cell biology
04-09-2019
o If an action is of the wrong kind, it is forbidden, no matter how good its
consequences are
o Consequences are not of ethical value
o Rejects both Utilitarianism and ethical egoism
o The end doesn’t justify the means
o Like: this goes too far → ‘playing God’ argument → don’t care about the
consequences
o Try to use principles
o De tien geboden → oldest deontological arguments → the authority of the source
o Divine command ethics
▪ What makes an action right is the fact that God commands it
▪ As opposed to the view that God commands things because they are right
already
o It is still relevant to use?
▪ Example: Kantianism
• Right actions must be universalizable and must treat rational agents
as ends, nor mere means (trade-offs forbidden)
• Universal consensus for ethical matters → rationality → all humans
as rational beings
• Use this universal characteristic → universal principle
• Not dependent on religion
▪ Kan’t deontology
• Universalizability: must be possible to will the principle of your
action for everybody without inconsistency
• Lying violates universalizability because lying presupposes and
exploits a general practice of telling the truth
• Ends, nor mere means: don’t treat rational agents (others or
yourself) as mere objects to be used or exploited
• Personhood is the basis of ethical value and can’t be subordinated to
other values.
• Mustn’t sacrifice the few even to benefit the many
• Categorical imperative: it you realize that that is the case, you have
to do it/don’t do it
- Virtue ethics
o The rightness/wrongness of an action is determined by the character traits it
expresses
o Character → action
o Emphasize what kind of person you should be
o The basic moral question is not ‘what should I do?’, but ‘what kind of person should I
be?’
o How other people think what kind of person you are or you should be
o Who do science → scientists
▪ What constitutes a good scientist
▪ What characteristics should you have to be a good scientist
o Examples: Aristotelianism, Confucianism
▪ You can’t do good if you don’t possess certain traits to do the right actions
o Virtue ethics
, Trends in stem cell biology
04-09-2019
▪ Virtue-ethicists tend to side with deontologists against consequencialists –
though not always
▪
- Contractarianism
- Natural law
- Relativism
- The first three are the three main categories
Possible criticism
- Relativism
- Can’t separate personal believes than professional believes
- Can’t switch of your humanity during doing science
- Who decides what constitutes a virtue?
o Who decides what is a virtue?
- ‘moral luck’
- Too situational
Introduction
Learning goals (tested by examinations)
- explain in general terms the basic definitions of different types of mammalian stem cells in
terms of potency and self-renewal as described in literature, and their difference to
differentiated cells.
- evaluate experimental data discussed in the lecture or from similar experiments regarding
the (epigenetic) regulation in pluripotent stem cells and reprogramming.
- demonstrate the importance of stem cells in biomedical research for understanding
development and disease based on the unique properties of stem cells.
- design experiments to identify mechanisms important for properties of different stem cells
and relevant diseases using the molecular tools and technologies as discussed in the lectures.
- illustrate how various types of stem cells currently used in the clinic, in clinical trials and/or in
clinical studies.
- reflect on the most relevant ethical issues of using stem cells for research and therapies, and
formulate and defend your opinions with arguments by means of oral presentation and
scientific discussion.
Read the course manual
Ethics in stem cells and applications
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