Topic #4: The Ethics of Cognitive Enhancement - Essays

The Topic
Our society values achievement. Our employers extol the virtue of hard work, our professors encourage us to study harder, our coaches expect 110%, and the US Army attracts new recruits with the slogan “Be all you can be!” In the pursuit of excellence, we hire tutors and athletic trainers; we consult psychologists, dieticians, and personal finance consultants; we take piano lessons and enroll in SAT prep classes. And, some of us take drugs.

When baseball players turn to anabolic steroids to be all that they can be, we are appalled. We are also concerned when we read reports of college students using stimulants, such as Ritalin, to help them prepare for exams. What makes the pharmaceutical road to success morally suspect? Is there a difference between the use of drugs in athletics and in academics? Can we control the use of stimulants by college students? Should we? Read what Ben and Carl have to say about this issue, do a little research, and join the conversation.

The Essays
The following essays, written by students at the Germantown Academy, address the issue of the ethics of cognitive enhancement, whether in the form of steroids to enhance athletic performance or stimulants to boost academic achievement.

Tyler Kenny welcomes the development of brain-boosting drugs. He notes that the US military already relies on stimulants to improve the performance of critical forces and feels that these drugs would be an important aid to busy students and surgeons as well.

Victoria Edwards disagrees. She notes that cognitive enhancing drugs were developed for therapeutic purposes and argues that use by healthy individuals is morally wrong. She labels such use "cheating."

Jacob Olitsky does not feel that the use of brain-boosting drugs for the enhancement of healthy brains is inherently wrong but has two concerns about making such use legal. First, the side effects have not been sufficiently investigated. Second, until the drugs can be produced cheaply enough to be effectively available to all, their legalization would further widen the gap between the poor and the wealthy.

Where do you stand on this issue? Please join the conversation.

Cognitive Enhancement

by Tyler Kenny

Legalize Cheating?

by Victoria Edwards

Cognitive Enhancement

by Jacob Olitsky

» Click here to view the original assignment.

Topic #3: Waiting for a Transplant - Essays

The Topic
Over 80,000 US patients are currently on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. It takes between one and six years to move to the top of the list and get a chance for life with a new organ. Thousands will die waiting. The scarcity of transplantable kidneys forces health care providers to make difficult life-and-death decisions. Who should get the next available kidney?

Most of the kidneys transplanted today come from cadavers. The kidneys of an automobile accident victim who is brain dead upon arrival at the emergency room may be used to extend the life of two patients suffering from renal failure. That is, they may be used if the accident victim has indicated a desire to be an organ donor and there is no objection from the surviving relatives.

The Essays
The following essays, written by students at Germantown Academy, address issues concerning the ethics of organ transplantation. Victoria Edwards debates whether alcoholics should be eligible to receive liver transplants. Stephanie Seybert discusses the rule of rescue at it relates to organ transplantation. And Annie Wallentine explores the hotly-debated and very timely topic of whether organs like kidneys should be sold.


We hope you find the student essays provocative and we welcome your comments. Do you agree with the arguments presented? If so, what points do you find compelling? Can you add further support for an author's position? If you disagree with an author, tell us where his/her argument fails. Suggest an alternative position and make a case for it – in 300 words or fewer. If you have more to say on an issue, consider submitting an essay of 500-750 words to Craig.Merow@germantownacademy.org as a Microsoft Word document for possible posting. Please join the conversation!

Liver Transplants for Alcoholics?

by Victoria Edwards

The Rule of Rescue and Organ Transplants

by Stephanie Seybert

Kidneys for Sale

by Annie Wallentine

» Click here to view the original assignment.

Topic #4: The Ethics of Cognitive Enhancement

Our society values achievement. Our employers extol the virtue of hard work, our professors encourage us to study harder, our coaches expect 110%, and the US Army attracts new recruits with the slogan “Be all you can be!” In the pursuit of excellence, we hire tutors and athletic trainers; we consult psychologists, dieticians, and personal finance consultants; we take piano lessons and enroll in SAT prep classes. And, some of us take drugs.

When baseball players turn to anabolic steroids to be all that they can be, we are appalled. We are also concerned when we read reports of college students using stimulants, such as Ritalin, to help them prepare for exams. What makes the pharmaceutical road to success morally suspect? Is there a difference between the use of drugs in athletics and in academics? Can we control the use of stimulants by college students? Should we? Read what Ben and Carl have to say about this issue, do a little research, and join the conversation.

December - Topic #4:
The Ethics of Cognitive Enhancement

Click here for the full assignment including guidelines for participation.

Topic #3: Waiting for a Transplant

Over 80,000 US patients are currently on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. It takes between one and six years to move to the top of the list and get a chance for life with a new organ. Thousands will die waiting. The scarcity of transplantable kidneys forces health care providers to make difficult life-and-death decisions. Who should get the next available kidney?

Most of the kidneys transplanted today come from cadavers. The kidneys of an automobile accident victim who is brain dead upon arrival at the emergency room may be used to extend the life of two patients suffering from renal failure. That is, they may be used if the accident victim has indicated a desire to be an organ donor and there is no objection from the surviving relatives.

December - Topic #3:
Waiting for a Transplant

Click here for the full assignment including guidelines for participation.

Topic #2: End-of-Life Decisions - Essays

The Topic
Modern technology has given us the ability to extend life. There are people alive today whose injuries, diseases, or organ failures would have killed them a generation ago. Many have enjoyed years of productive life thanks to advanced medical procedures. But for some, the extra time is spent in a coma or in intolerable pain.

The Essays
The following essays, written by students at Germantown Academy, address issues concerning the end of life. Annie Wallentine, Stephanie Seybert, and Jackie Goldenberg discuss physician-assisted suicide, while Victoria Edwards explores the morality of withholding treatment for infants with severe congenital defects.

We hope you find the student essays provocative and we welcome your comments. Do you agree with the arguments presented? If so, what points do you find compelling? Can you add further support for an author's position? If you disagree with an author, tell us where his/her argument fails. Suggest an alternative position and make a case for it. Try to keep your comments short (<300 words) and focused on one or two points. If you have more to say on an issue, consider submitting an essay of 500-750 words to Craig.Merow@germantownacademy.org as a Microsoft Word document for possible posting. Please join the conversation!

Death With Dignity

by Annie Wallentine

The Risk of Coercion in Physician Assisted Suicide

by Stephanie Seybert

Physician Assisted Suicide

by Jackie Goldenberg

Baby Janie

by Victoria Edwards

» Click here to view the original assignment.

Topic #1: Genetically Modified Foods - Essays

The Topic
Modern technology has given us the ability to go beyond selective breeding. Organisms can now be modified by moving genes from one species to another and by introducing synthetic genetic material into their genomes. Humans no longer simply select from variations presentin the population: they create new variations!

Some find our new power exciting. They dream of crops with greater resistance to disease and insect pests, pigs with healthy fats, and a level of agricultural production sufficient to feed everyone on the planet. Others fear that we have crossed an important boundary and are now tinkering with living systems that we understand incompletely. They question our ability to predict the consequences of our actions and are afraid that we may disrupt the delicate natural order.

The Essays
These four essays, written by students in my bioethics course at Germantown Academy, represent a range of responses to the question about genetically modified food. All four philosophers chose a utilitarian approach. Mr. Olitsky argues for analyzing GMO issues on a case-by-case basis. Ms. Goldberg and Ms. Wallentine do precisely what Mr. Olitsky recommends although they take opposite positions on the particular GMOs considered. Ms. Seybert's essay addresses a serious and very immediate concern with the GMOs currently in use.

We hope you find the student essays provocative and we welcome your comments. Do you agree with the arguments presented? If so, what points do you find compelling? Can you add further support for an author's position? If you disagree with an author, tell us where his/her argument fails. Suggest an alternative position and make a case for it. Try to keep your comments short (<300 words) and focused on one or two points. If you have more to say on an issue, consider submitting an essay of 500-750 words to Craig.Merow@germantownacademy.org as a Microsoft Word document for possible posting. Please join the conversation!

The Advantages of the Enviropig

by Jackie Goldenberg

Discussing Genetically Modified Organisms

by Jacob Olitsky

Perilous Pesticide Resistance

by Stephanie Seybert

Pigging Out

by Annie Wallentine

» Click here to view the original assignment.

Germantown Academy Students Join the Conversation

Beginning in September The Philosophical Student will be joined by the students of Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, PA and their philosophy teacher, Craig Merow. Here we will post students essays selected by Mr. Merow, who will direct an online conversation with his students as well as students from Germantown's sister schools and beyond.