Your research presentation is due in this module.

If you do not submit your presentation by the final day of Module 8, you will not receive full credit for this assignment.

Review the Ethical Research Presentation Guide to ensure your presentation adheres to the assignment instructions and outline.

Your presentation will automatically be evaluated through Turnitin when you submit your assignment in this activity. Turnitin is a service that checks your work for improper citation or potential plagiarism by comparing it against a database of web pages, student papers, and articles from academic books and publications. Ensure that your work is entirely your own and that you have not plagiarized any material!

Virtue ethics represents a philosophical approach to morality that emphasizes the individual character as the key component that dominates and guides ethical reasoning and behavior, in contrast to focusing on rules about the specific behaviors (deontology) or the consequences of action (consequentialism). As such, it proposes questions such as “what defines a good moral character?” This, in turn, leads to questions about relativism and the context of cultural place and time with respect to defining virtue.

In our modern society, we are faced with new challenges related to the fast pace of change and technological development. This is perhaps most prominent in the field of biotechnology, where advances are making actions possible that in the past were only dreamed about in the realm of science-fiction. Perhaps our greatest challenge is not the science and technology factor but rather its moral and ethical application.

View this video for a quick introduction to virtue ethics:

610. What is Virtue Ethics? (YouTube, 2:34) (Links to an external site.)

Module Objectives
Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

Identify basic concepts related to virtue ethics. (LO 1, 2, 5, 7)
Discuss ethical issues related to biotechnology and bioengineering. (LO 5-7)
Apply theoretical concepts from the course readings to ethical dilemmas. (LO 5, 7)
Assess current events relative to course readings and discussion topics. (LO 5-7)
Present research on a controversial ethical topic including a comprehensive examination of both sides of the issue. (LO8)