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HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY
COURSE SYLLABUS
1. COURSE TITLE
Public Health and the Common Good
2. COURSE CODE
LSE 7070
3. NO. OF UNITS
3
4. OFFERING DEPARTMENT
Department of Religion and Philosophy
5. AIMS & OBJECTIVES
(1) To help students have a better understanding of how to deal with moral issues concerning
public health care and using biotechnology in the context of health care from a
philosophical point of view.
(2) To help students to develop their intellectual and imaginative powers, critical thinking
ability and problem solving skills.
(3) To help students develop their critical approach to tackling other moral issues.
(4) To provide students with those concepts and analytical skills that will enable them to
grapple with broad ethical theory in attempting to reflect on the moral issues facing the
larger society.
(5) To deepen student’s moral sensitivity and develop their capacity for moral reasoning and
discernment through learning how to analyze, criticize, and construct moral arguments in
relation to the contemporary debates on moral issues concerned with public health care
and the uses of biotechnology in health care.
(6) To clarify and reflect on the wider and foundational moral issues concerning public
health care and the uses of biotechnology in health care which are of public concern.
6. COURSE CONTENT
In the course we will examine the experience of health and illness at the societal level from
both scientific and ethical perspectives. The course seeks to reveal the spread of diseases
and health problems in the population, and their determining factors. It also asks how do
populations and groups of individuals go about securing their health? In particular we will
consider the major health problems that have had the greatest impact on our community
and their causes; and the place of science and technology in dealing with related problems.
The emphasis will be put on how scientific reasoning has been used to solve health
problems. In this course, the roles of the individual and society in maintaining good public
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health and handling possible public health crises will also be explored. We will discuss, in
particular, the responsibilities of individuals, health care professionals and government in
maintaining and promoting public health. In this connection, individuals’ rights in general
and patients’ rights in particular will be discussed, and moral issues arising from the
allocation of public resources and using biotechnology in public health care will be
examined.
Outline Content:
I. Introduction
II. What is public health?
a. Definitions of public health
b. How to approach public health?
c. Factors that affect public health
III. The Concept of Health
a. What is health? Is health simply the absence of disease?
b. Health indicators
c. Factors that affect health
d. Primary health care
IV. The scientific basis of public health
a. Identifying or measuring the problem
b. Understanding the Problem
c. Solving the Problem
d. Risk and precaution in public health care
e. Differences between Western and Chinese cultures in understanding ‘health’ and
‘disease’ and the causes of diseases
V. History, Policy and Control
a. Public health in the past
b. Health care policy
c. Public health and social control
VI. Morality and Public health
a. Ethical issues in public health
b. Moral Principles and Theories
- Liberty-limiting principles
- The principle of utility
- The principles of distributive justice
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VII. Moral Issues involved in Public Health Care
a. Law, abortion and euthanasia
b. Using Biotechnology in Public Health Care
c. Ethics in health care management
VIII. Government’s Role and the Patients’ Rights in Public Health Care
a. What role should the government play in public health care?
b. Do citizens have the right to public health care?
c. How should the government allocate resources and devise policies in order to
protect the environment and improve public health?
7. COURSE INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES (CILOS)
CILO
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
CILO 1
Demonstrate an understanding of the key concepts of the theory and
practice of public health in today’s world
CILO 2
Explain the roles of the individual and society in maintaining good
public health and handling possible public health crises from an ethical
point of view
CILO 3
Discuss and find ways of resolving public health issues in relation to
patients’ rights and moral issues arising from the allocation of public
resources and using biotechnology in public health care.
CILO 4
Articulate their personal views, and evaluate the strengths and
weaknesses of views different from their own, in tackling ethical issues
concerning public health
8. TEACHING & LEARNING ACTIVITIES (TLAS)
CILO NO.
TLAS STUDENTS WILL:
CILO 1, 2, 3
Be given hands-on instruction on basic concepts of the theory and
practice of public health, as well as the roles of the individual and
society in maintaining good public health and handling possible public
health crises from an ethical point of view. Public health issues in relation
to patients’ rights and moral issues arising from the allocation of public
resources and using biotechnology in public health care will also be
discussed. (Lecture and class discussion).
CILO 2, 3, 4
Be working in teams to present the results of their research on case
studies (Group presentation)
CILO 3, 4
Be given written tasks to report on case analysis (Written reports)
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9.
ASSESSMENT METHODS (AMS)
Type of
Assessment
Weighting CILOs to be Description of Assessment Tasks
addressed
Tutorials
20%
2, 3, 4
Group presentations and discussions will
encourage, reward, and assess students’ active
contributions to analysis and their active
engagement with other students.
Assignments
40%
3, 4
Assignments will test the students’ ability to
Evaluate critically the ethical issues with
regard to public health.
Final Exam
40%
1-4
The examination will test and reward students’
in-depth understanding of ideas and theories
from lectures and readings as well as their
ability to evaluate them critically.
10. TEXTBOOKS / RECOMMENDED READINGS
Beauchamp, Tom L and Walters, LeRoy. Contemporary issues in bioethics. Belmont, CA :
Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008.
Bradley, Peter and Burls, Amanda, eds. Ethics in public and community health. London ;
New York : Routledge, 2000.
Brock, Dan W. Life and Death: Philosophical Essays in Biomedical Ethics. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Chadwick, Ruth F. Ethics, Reproduction and Genetic Control. Revised edition. London:
Routledge, 1992.
Dworkin, Ronald. Life’s Dominion: An Argument about Abortion, Euthanasia, and
Individual Freedom. New York: Vintage Books, 1994.
Glannon, Walter. Genes and Future People. Oxford: Westview Press, 2001.
Harris, John. Clones, Genes, and Immortality: Ethics and Genetic Revolution. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1998.
Humber, James M. and Almeder, Robert F, eds. Human Cloning. Totowa, N.J.:
Humana Press, 1998.
House of Lords. Report of the Select Committee on Medical Ethics. London: HMSO, 31st
January, 1994.
Howell, Joseph H. and Sale, William Frederick, eds. Life Choices: A Hastings Center
Introduction to Bioethics. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1995.
Kuhse, Helga and Singer, Peter, eds. A Companion to Bioethcs. Oxford: Blackwell,
1998.
Reich, Warren Thomas, eds. Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Five volumes, Revised edition.
New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1995.
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Singer, Peter. Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of our Traditional Ethics.
New
York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.
___________. Practical Ethics. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1993.
___________, (ed). Applied Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Steffen, Lloyd, (eds). Abortion: A Reader. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1996.
Steinbock, Bonnie and Alastair Norcross, eds. Killing and Letting Die. 2nd edition, New
York: Fordham University Press, 1994.
Warren, Mary Ann. Moral Status: Obligations to Persons and Other Living Things.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Wilson, Frances and Mabhala, Mzwandile, ed. Key Concepts in Public Health. Los
Angeles : SAGE, 2009
王延光：《中國當代遺傳倫理研究》。北京：北京理工大學出版社，2003。
五十嵐靖彥著;張長安譯：《生命倫理学》。北京：西北大學出版社， 2001。
李春秋：《生命教育：倫理與科學》。南京：江蘇人民出版社，2002。
李瑞全：《儒家生命倫理學》。台灣：鵝湖出版社，1999。
邱仁宗：《生死之間：道德難題與生命倫理》。香港：中華書局，1988。
徐宗良等：《生命倫理學：理論與實踐探索》。上海：上海人民出版社，2002。
鈕則誠：《生命教育：倫理與科學》。台北市：揚智文化事業股份有限公司，2004。
LSE 7070 Public Health and the Common Good
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