The goal of this project is to integrate the study of ethics into the existing undergraduate life science curriculum at Purdue University. The strategy is to teach basic moral concepts and principles to life science faculty members, equipping them to lead discussions of moral issues in their classrooms and labs. The outcome will be coherent life science classes and labs revitalized by the study of ethics. The training will occur primarily during a series of summer Bioethics Institutes. Graduates of each institute will be required to attend a series of reunion meetings during the next three years. The last reunion meeting of the 1998 cohort, therefore, will occur in 2001. The goals of the project are to integrate philosophy, ethics, and comparative religion into courses in biology, biochemistry, agriculture, and veterinary science; to improve the quality of undergraduate education in a broad range of life sciences by helping undergraduate students to achieve a broader understanding of themselves and the world; to assist faculty in explaining to students the underlying assumptions and values of research in the life sciences; to enrich and promote coherence in fields traditionally devoted to narrow specialization; and finally, to provide a template to be utilized by other universities and colleges.
