CrewDad

Philosophy, ethics and bioethics are integral aspects of practicing medicine.

Niightingale, these organizations and courses of study might be of interest.

Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that encompasses all aspects of the philosophy of medicine and biology, and the ethical aspects of clinical practice and research.

Yale University and Hastings Center Create Joint Bioethics and Health Policy Program

About The Hastings Center Report - The Hastings Center

You'll find this interesting as well. Yale University's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics Philosophy professors.


Baird Callicott is Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas.

Chalmers C. Clark, PhD, is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Union and Adjunct Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Neiswanger Bioethics Institute of Loyola University, Chicago

Samuel Gorovitz is Professor of Philosophy at Syracuse University and Founding Director of the Renée Crown University Honors Program.

Holmes Rolston is University Distinguished Professor and Professor of Philosophy at Colorado State University.

TheDad

Whether one ultimately goes into law, medicine, or business...having a broader perspective that one gives to one's problem solving is an asset, whether one is making ethical judgments about a proposed action or discussing French literature with a client.

Momwaitingfornew

^^^ That's why I like the liberal arts model of education.

One of the most brilliant people I've ever known was a hard-core scientist, top of his field, and yet he could converse in depth on topics ranging from literature (both classic and contemporary) to history to politics to . . . you name it. A monk could walk up to him, and they'd find common ground in minutes. Of course, this guy was unusual.

A physician has to be a little like this as well. She has to be able to relate to patients no matter their background. That doesn't mean that you have to major in philosophy to be a good doctor, only that a good doctor will probably have a wide range of interests, just because that's the type of profession it is.

To return to the original question: niightingale, you have a good chance of getting into Smith. And the education is superb. My D had a chance this past summer to use her science education at a research opportunity at Princeton. Although she did not have the high tech lab experience going into it that the Princeton students did, her knowledge of the subject matter matched theirs. In fact, she was better prepared than many to know how to act like a graduate student.

niightingale

I've always wanted to minor in art history, but it just seemed so random and irrelevant.

Thank you all for your responses, and I wish I could convey to you how significantly each post puts things into perspective for me!

TheDad

You know, I fell into the trap of justifying non-direct majors on pragmatic terms. But MWFN is quite correct: there's an intrinsic value to being a broadly educated person that has much merit on its own, aside from whether a major or minor is ultimately "work-related" or not.

Some of the people I know with the most intense "work-related" education and interests are among the most boring.

SmithieandProud

Trust me niightingale, the discipline that art history classes require (and the memorization) is not at all different from the discipline required for medical school. Of course, you don't have to decide it all now. Take your premed courses, take a little art history too. Do well in your science courses, but don't be afraid to major in what you love.

Momwaitingfornew

S&P's post about the discipline it requires to do well in art history prompted this thought because of art history's difficulty: I wonder how many students take Smith's open curriculum as a license to avoid courses. My D fulfilled her Latin Honors requirements by the end of her first year (or maybe her sophomore fall) simply because she sampled a wide variety of courses. Her friends seem to have naturally completed theirs as well. But that doesn't mean that a substantial numbers of students take courses only within a narrow range. Anyone know the answer to this? Do any Smithies know of students who take, say, all humanities classes? Or all science?

For my D, one of the most exciting aspects of Smith has been the ability to fulfill her science major while taking literature (her favorite), history, and government. All courses have been challenging, albeit it in different ways. Although she is looking forward to the intense specialization of grad school, she will miss the variety.

Lost in translat

Guilty! D decided at the tender age of 6 that she was scientifically challenged. The Latin Honours distribution allows for some weird exchanges: i.e. linguistics instead of maths, psycho instead of biology etc....
But I won't despair. her sister, 23, afflicted with the same problem, has just started a sustainability diploma in which she is required to take econ, stats, geology and molecular biology. And she loves it!!

smithiegr

MWFN, it does happen, and the requirements most often avoided are the natural science, math, and foreign language ones. The first two are kinda the obvious ones, but the last one is an "it depends" type of situation. The upper level languages are wicked difficult, and the lower level languages (though no less easier) require a year-long commitment.

overwhelmedma

Sometimes fate decides My D was looking forward to avoiding more history and had no interest in women's studies but due to several labs and a language placement the only 4th course she could fit in was a history of women She is planning to take Lit and other humanities but history was not on the list.

borgin

To get credit for an intro language, you have to take a whole year of it. Many students don't want to continue a language or take two semesters of a new language just to get a foreign language distribution.

I know a few people who didn't fulfill the latin honors distribution. My hardest requirement to fill was natural science, which may not make sense as I majored in math, but I ended up taking two 3-credit astronomy courses, the second my last semester (yes, you need 4 credits to fulfill Latin honors - not just one course in an area).

SmithieandProud

Open Curriculum is like everything else in college really: It is what you make of it. You can (and people do) look at it as an opportunity to never take Math/Science/History/English again. I certainly never took a stats or calc class in college, I fulfilled the quantitative latin honors requirement by taking two computer science courses ("How the Internet Works" and "How Computers Work") that required maybe a little addition and the occasional bout of subtraction.

But really, OC is a chance to free yourself to do what you want and direct your own education. You can make choices to study broadly or narrowly, it's up to you. I also think it encourages departments to offer better and more interesting classes. Since theyr'e not garaunteed to have students in any department, they have to go out and compete for them by offering students courses that are really appealing.

borgin

I looked at the open curriculum as "I'm taking this class because I want to be in it, and everyone else wants to be in it too. No one here is taking the class because they need a biology course to graduate, and I won't be expected to complain about taking the course because everyone is here just to fulfill a graduation requirement." For me, that worked for everything - all of my classes were ones I wanted to take even the ones that I wasn't particularly strong in or didn't have any prior knowledge about (I loved the astronomy courses, by the way).

Momwaitingfornew

I suppose if you have a high GPA, the motivation to complete Latin Honors requirements is there. But it seems to me to be relatively easy to fulfill, even if you are not academically strong in a particular area since a variety of courses exist for non-majors.

As for the foreign language requirement, what happens if you test out of a language -- that is, into 200 level courses? Do you then only have to take one language course?

borgin

Yes, you only have to take one course to get credit for a 200-level language. It's just the 100-level courses - to get credit for the semester, you have to take a whole year, and some students might not think the time commitment worth it just to fulfill a Latin Honors distribution.

And I'm not just talking about Latin Honors distribution - you can't take one semester of an intro language, drop it the second semester, and walk away with 4 or 5 credits on your transcript. You have to take both semesters to get 8 or 10 credits. The first semester's credits are only there provided you finish the year.