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fandomhigh2006-09-07 09:45 am
dr-jwilsonmd.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2006-09-07 09:45 am
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The Philosophy of Values: The parallels between the Medical and Magical Communities.
Thursday Period 3 (10-10:50am)
Wilson had decided to set his classroom up in the style he was familiar with from when he taught back at Princeton Plainsborough and so it was laid out in a tier auditorium style the way the medical classrooms had been set up. This also allowed him to run slides up on a white screen rather than subject the kids to his handwriting, which even for a doctor, was horrific.
This morning, he was already in the classroom, seated behind the desk, sipping on a tall mug of coffee and flipping through a book. On the desk sat, not brownies but a full spread of bagels, creamcheese (plain, almond, veggie), lox and coffee for any weary souls still in need of a pick me up. As the students came in and settled, Wilson checked his watch then quickly reviewed the sign in sheet before standing up.
“Good morning.” He began with a smile.
Walking around to the front of the desk, he waited for the students to quiet, then began to talk.
“I swear by Apollo the physician, an Asclipios, and Hygieia, and Panacea, and I call to witness all the gods and all the goddesses, to keep this oath and agreement according to my ability and my judgment. To consider him who taught me this art the equal of my parents; to live in common with him and if necessary to share my goods with him; to look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art if they so desire without fee or written contract; to impart to my sons and the sons of him who taught me and the disciples who have enrolled themselves and have agreed to the rules of the profession, but to these alone, the precepts and the instructions. I will prescribe a regimen for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgement and abstain from offending them or harming them. Never to prescribe a deadly drug to anyone even if I am asked, nor give such advise. Neither will I give a woman a pressary to procure abortion. But I will preserve the purity of my life and my art. I will not perform an orchiectomy on any man even if he asks me, yet leave this task to the person who occupies himself with this type of work. In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional injustice and harm, and especially from the aphrodisiac contacts with the bodies of women or of men, whether they be free or slaves. Whatever I see or hear in the exercise of my profession or outside my profession in my communion with men, which ought not to be divulged, never to reveal it but to keep it as a secret. If I keep this oath faithfully and not violate it, may I enjoy my life and my art, respected by all men and for all times. But if I transgress it or forswear it may the reverse be my lot.”
[ooc: Physician’s Oath by Hippocrates (c.460-400 B.C.)]
Pausing Wilson gave the students a moment to absorb what he’d just reeled off and took a sip of his coffee to wet his throat.
“All right, obviously a few of those points are not as relevant now as they were back in 460-400 B.C. There is, after all, not much call for orchiectomies these days and most of we males are glad of it. There is also the whole teach without fee, I was paying off my med school debts until I was thirty and the bit about the aphrodisiac…well…that is actually a nod towards the idea of not sleeping with patients rather than celibacy, because if doctors were celibate our heads would explode.”
Straightening, Wilson set the coffee cup aside and began to pace.
“But this raises an interesting point. Obviously the language of this original oath is not entirely applicable to the culture and society of today, however the basic foundation of the oath is still sound. Do no Harm whether it be intentional or by breaking the guidelines set in the oath, this is the basic philosophy that a medical professional is expected to adhere unto. However, is this guideline attainable by the mortal being?”
Wilson paused and then shrugged.
“This is based upon Aristotle’s declaration that ‘Mansentient vampire, sentient cat like creature, whatever is roaming around Fandom is a logical ethical political animal.’”
Setting his hands on his desk, Wilson hopped up onto it and grinned at the class.
“We’d like to think so I imagine but the other side of that argument is that ‘Man is essentially the outward appearance of DNA.’ The idea that ‘Life is DNA’s way of making more DNA’.”
The grin grew a little impish and Wilson sat back, leaning on his hands. “So, which is the reality and which is the appearance? Do we wrap ourselves in the comforting façade that we as sentient beings are thus ‘logical, ethical, political animals’ in order to obscure the cold reality that we might be little more than DNA trying to replicate itself? What is it about our reality that keeps us from such a basic definition?”
Wilson hopped back down off the desk and walked to the overhead, flipping it on where a slide (thankfully *not* in his handwriting flipped up onto the screen).
“Physicians’ Duties toward their Patients: I will prescribe a regimen for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgement to abstain from offending them or harming them….”
“Physicians’ Duties toward their Fellow Physicians: To consider him who taught me this art the equal of my parents…
“Physicians’ Duties towards their Medical Students: To look upon his children as my own brothers…
“Physicians’ Expectations of Themselves as Physicians: If I keep this oath faithfully and not violate it, may I enjoy my life and my art, respected by all men and for all times. But if I transgress it or forswear it may the reverse be my lot.”
Tapping the last one with his pen, Wilson moved back out in front of the class.
“These are my realities. They are the four guidelines by which I seek to define myself into a philosophy that depicts me as a logical, ethical, political animal rather than a strand of DNA to be replicated onward. These are the guidelines I use to help me see through each unique challenge that comes to me to get to the truth of my perception of the challenge and my motivation for confronting it.”
Putting his pen back in his pocket, Wilson hopped back up onto the desk.
“Now, that’s me and as I put in the description for this class, guidelines are going to be individual to each and every one of us and this class is not meant to change anyone’s personal guidelines. Rather it’s here to make us away of them and aware of our own philosophy and what we truly value. That said, I’d like each student to now introduce themselves, say whether you believe you are a piece of DNA or a logical, ethical, political animal and if the latter, give us one guideline you feel anchors you in your search for the reality of a situation.”
In the last few minutes of class, Wilson handed out the the syllabus as he spoke.
"For your homework, I want you to think about what we discussed in class today and also start reviewing the list of books on your syllabus or start thinking up a text you might like to use for your project. I'm going to want to start getting a list of who is taking what text together not next week but the following week's class."
[ooc: Obviously there will be much handwavey of the actual reading and writing up of the project but have fun with it! :D]
Finishing with the syllabus handing, he walked up to the chalkboard and tried to write out in a legible manner.
"Also my office hours are Mondays 9:30am-11:30am, Thursdays 11:00am-1:00pm and of course by appointment. You'll find my phone numbers on the syllabus, don't hesitate to call if you need to and please if you know you're going to be out of class due to parent, gremlin or zombie attack, please let me know."
[ooc:Please wait for the OCD threads up! Class in session]
Wilson had decided to set his classroom up in the style he was familiar with from when he taught back at Princeton Plainsborough and so it was laid out in a tier auditorium style the way the medical classrooms had been set up. This also allowed him to run slides up on a white screen rather than subject the kids to his handwriting, which even for a doctor, was horrific.
This morning, he was already in the classroom, seated behind the desk, sipping on a tall mug of coffee and flipping through a book. On the desk sat, not brownies but a full spread of bagels, creamcheese (plain, almond, veggie), lox and coffee for any weary souls still in need of a pick me up. As the students came in and settled, Wilson checked his watch then quickly reviewed the sign in sheet before standing up.
“Good morning.” He began with a smile.
Walking around to the front of the desk, he waited for the students to quiet, then began to talk.
“I swear by Apollo the physician, an Asclipios, and Hygieia, and Panacea, and I call to witness all the gods and all the goddesses, to keep this oath and agreement according to my ability and my judgment. To consider him who taught me this art the equal of my parents; to live in common with him and if necessary to share my goods with him; to look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art if they so desire without fee or written contract; to impart to my sons and the sons of him who taught me and the disciples who have enrolled themselves and have agreed to the rules of the profession, but to these alone, the precepts and the instructions. I will prescribe a regimen for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgement and abstain from offending them or harming them. Never to prescribe a deadly drug to anyone even if I am asked, nor give such advise. Neither will I give a woman a pressary to procure abortion. But I will preserve the purity of my life and my art. I will not perform an orchiectomy on any man even if he asks me, yet leave this task to the person who occupies himself with this type of work. In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional injustice and harm, and especially from the aphrodisiac contacts with the bodies of women or of men, whether they be free or slaves. Whatever I see or hear in the exercise of my profession or outside my profession in my communion with men, which ought not to be divulged, never to reveal it but to keep it as a secret. If I keep this oath faithfully and not violate it, may I enjoy my life and my art, respected by all men and for all times. But if I transgress it or forswear it may the reverse be my lot.”
[ooc: Physician’s Oath by Hippocrates (c.460-400 B.C.)]
Pausing Wilson gave the students a moment to absorb what he’d just reeled off and took a sip of his coffee to wet his throat.
“All right, obviously a few of those points are not as relevant now as they were back in 460-400 B.C. There is, after all, not much call for orchiectomies these days and most of we males are glad of it. There is also the whole teach without fee, I was paying off my med school debts until I was thirty and the bit about the aphrodisiac…well…that is actually a nod towards the idea of not sleeping with patients rather than celibacy, because if doctors were celibate our heads would explode.”
Straightening, Wilson set the coffee cup aside and began to pace.
“But this raises an interesting point. Obviously the language of this original oath is not entirely applicable to the culture and society of today, however the basic foundation of the oath is still sound. Do no Harm whether it be intentional or by breaking the guidelines set in the oath, this is the basic philosophy that a medical professional is expected to adhere unto. However, is this guideline attainable by the mortal being?”
Wilson paused and then shrugged.
“This is based upon Aristotle’s declaration that ‘Man
Setting his hands on his desk, Wilson hopped up onto it and grinned at the class.
“We’d like to think so I imagine but the other side of that argument is that ‘Man is essentially the outward appearance of DNA.’ The idea that ‘Life is DNA’s way of making more DNA’.”
The grin grew a little impish and Wilson sat back, leaning on his hands. “So, which is the reality and which is the appearance? Do we wrap ourselves in the comforting façade that we as sentient beings are thus ‘logical, ethical, political animals’ in order to obscure the cold reality that we might be little more than DNA trying to replicate itself? What is it about our reality that keeps us from such a basic definition?”
Wilson hopped back down off the desk and walked to the overhead, flipping it on where a slide (thankfully *not* in his handwriting flipped up onto the screen).
“Physicians’ Duties toward their Patients: I will prescribe a regimen for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgement to abstain from offending them or harming them….”
“Physicians’ Duties toward their Fellow Physicians: To consider him who taught me this art the equal of my parents…
“Physicians’ Duties towards their Medical Students: To look upon his children as my own brothers…
“Physicians’ Expectations of Themselves as Physicians: If I keep this oath faithfully and not violate it, may I enjoy my life and my art, respected by all men and for all times. But if I transgress it or forswear it may the reverse be my lot.”
Tapping the last one with his pen, Wilson moved back out in front of the class.
“These are my realities. They are the four guidelines by which I seek to define myself into a philosophy that depicts me as a logical, ethical, political animal rather than a strand of DNA to be replicated onward. These are the guidelines I use to help me see through each unique challenge that comes to me to get to the truth of my perception of the challenge and my motivation for confronting it.”
Putting his pen back in his pocket, Wilson hopped back up onto the desk.
“Now, that’s me and as I put in the description for this class, guidelines are going to be individual to each and every one of us and this class is not meant to change anyone’s personal guidelines. Rather it’s here to make us away of them and aware of our own philosophy and what we truly value. That said, I’d like each student to now introduce themselves, say whether you believe you are a piece of DNA or a logical, ethical, political animal and if the latter, give us one guideline you feel anchors you in your search for the reality of a situation.”
In the last few minutes of class, Wilson handed out the the syllabus as he spoke.
"For your homework, I want you to think about what we discussed in class today and also start reviewing the list of books on your syllabus or start thinking up a text you might like to use for your project. I'm going to want to start getting a list of who is taking what text together not next week but the following week's class."
[ooc: Obviously there will be much handwavey of the actual reading and writing up of the project but have fun with it! :D]
Finishing with the syllabus handing, he walked up to the chalkboard and tried to write out in a legible manner.
"Also my office hours are Mondays 9:30am-11:30am, Thursdays 11:00am-1:00pm and of course by appointment. You'll find my phone numbers on the syllabus, don't hesitate to call if you need to and please if you know you're going to be out of class due to parent, gremlin or zombie attack, please let me know."
[ooc:
Sign In
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Class Participation
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"Do you really believe you're a DNA strand, Blair? Boiled down to your most basic instincts of kill or be killed, survival of the fittest, anything goes so long as your DNA makes it to the next generation and any potential competition to that goal must be destroyed as threat or consumed as prey?"
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"That's a good guideline." He said with a nod, then he grinned at her, dark eyes twinkling good naturedly. "One question and you don't have to answer it right now just something to think about. How do you define right and wrong and what would you do if your definition ran counter to someone else's definition?"
He was careful in his tone to make sure she understood that it was only a question to give her something to think about, not questioning her guideline itself.
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"So you don't believe you're just DNA, okay...what would you call one of your personal guidelines?"
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"Personally, I believe humanity is a mix of all four of those concepts," she finally said. "We're all made of DNA and that gives us our basic building blocks for life and survival. Everyone has a logigistical map that they go by. My logic may not make sense to someone else, but I have my logic and it usually works for me. Unfortunately, the matter of ethics becomes a sticking point because there are good ethics and bad ethics. Even someone that I might say has no ethics at all, might argue that they just follow an ethical code that differs from the ethics that most people considered to be and ethical follow. Then comes political belief and spirit. Everyone believes in something and that belief system helps to shape the person we become."
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"Excellent, Miss Halliwell. The idea is that our guidelines, our values the ones we hold dearest to us are the tools we'll use to guide us through the challenges we face in life and give us... I don't want to call it a moral compass, because what is moral for one of us might not be for another one of us but it gives us our personal compass to use as we go through life and as you say, helps shape us into the person we'll be."
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But the other things were more what Granny stressed. It wasn't as unfamiliar as it could be.
"We're people. People have choices. That's what makes us what we are whether we're humans or dwarfs or trolls. I don't know about the dee en ay you're talking about, and I don't know as I'd say that all people are ethical, but we all have choices."
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deoxyribonucleic acid: an extremely long macromolecule that is the main component of chromosomes and is the material that transfers genetic characteristics in all life forms, constructed of two nucleotide strands coiled around each other in a ladderlike arrangement with the sidepieces composed of alternating phosphate and deoxyribose units and the rungs composed of the purine and pyrimidine bases adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine: the genetic information of DNA is encoded in the sequence of the bases and is transcribed as the strands unwind and replicate.
Turning, he grinned. "DNA is the basic building blocks of most carbon based lifeforms. It is the genetic blueprint that is passed from mother and father to offspring."
Setting the chalk down, probably to the relief of everyone's eyes, he walked back to the front of the desk and grinned to Agnes.
"Choices, that's a wonderful word Miss. Nitt and thank you for bringing it up. One of the greatest differentials between the idea of sentient beings being little more than vehicles to carry DNA from one generation to the next and sentient beings as logical, ethical and political animals is the idea of choice. Very nice."
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She paused, then added. "My biggest guideline, I suppose, is love. How would the people I care about think of how I'm acting? Because I value them and their opinions, it makes me consider what I do carefully."
She's not sure she understood the question, but she tried, anyways.
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"Hello, professor. I am Luna Lovegood. And while I believe we are more than D-N-A, which you know, doesn't sound as nearly as entertaining an object as a P-E-N, I would like to address the first question you held glimmering-ghostly before us."
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Talk to Dr. Wilson
Talk or Pass Notes
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After Class
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"Uh, Professor?"
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OOC
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