This project will develop a curriculum of philosophical studies, with an emphasis on ethics, especially appropriate for graduate students in the sciences. The curricular model will be implemented in the specific setting of a marine biological laboratory. In many respects such laboratories resemble small, liberal arts college campuses. The setting should be conducive to integrating philosophical and scientific issues, methods, and problems. Four course modules or seminars are proposed in the following order: 1) Theories of Sciences; 2) Theories of Ethics; 3) Ethics of the Environment and Development; and 4) Professional Ethics. Each are two-credit, half-semester courses, which will meet for two hours a week over eight weeks; students are expected to participate in the entire sequence. Novel features include introducing graduate students to philosophy through a course in the history and philoosphy of science, requiring work in ethical theory before truning to issues in applied ethics, including non- Western (Chinese) materials and perspectives in all facets of the curriculum, and exploring the question of need or desirability of developing a specific code of professional ethics for research scholars in the biological and envirnomental sciences. Results from the project will be disseminated at the meetings of two scientific groups: The National Association of Marine Laboratories and The Estuarine Research Federation. There are also plans to develop a syllabus and annotated bibliography.
