Educational experiments using living organisms: bioethical rationale for the correction of techniques

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31874/2309-1606-2021-27-2-6

Keywords:

bioethics, animal experiments, demonstration experiments, ecology, foundry, biomedical engineering, humanism, philosophy of education

Abstract

The relevance of the topic of the article is due to two trends in the world and in Ukraine: the spread of research practices that need to be understood in the discourse of bioethics, and attempts to introduce bioethics (or its basic ideas and principles) in the educational process of technical universities. These two trends are combined in the practice of using animals in scientific experiments. Taking into account the fact that a component of such research in not only scientific, but also educational experiments, this topic becomes an urgent problem in the discourse of the philosophy of education. The purpose of the article is to present and analyze the experience of correcting the methods of educational and demonstration experiments using living organisms, which are carried out at the Odessa Polytechnic State University. As examples, the course of laboratory work on the study of the influence of wastewater from foundry dumps on living organisms (specialty 136-Metallurgy) and an experiment to study the effect of photon irradiation on biological objects in the aquatic environment (specialty 163-Biomedical engineering) are described. Guppy fish (Poecilia reticulata Peters) are used in both experiments. The results of the analysis of the correction of the methods of these experiments form the scientific novelty in three aspects: 1) the substantiation of the need for the formation of bioethical competencies is given not only for physicians and veterinarians, but also for engineers of various specialties; 2) an additional principle of bioethics of experiments on animals is proposed and tested - the principle of early stopping of an experiment (educational and demonstration) at a certain stage; 3) it is shown that giving students the opportunity to make decisions about changing the experiment procedure allows them to better understand the boundaries of what is necessary and sufficient, forms their willingness to take responsibility for the result of the experiment and for the lives of people and animals.

Author Biographies

Lada Prokopovych, Odessa Polytechnic State University

Doctor of Philosophy Sciences, Ph.D. Engineering, Professor of Department of Art History, Cultural Studies and Philosophy

Nataliya Titova, Odessa Polytechnic State University

Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering

References

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Published

2022-03-02

How to Cite

Prokopovych, L., & Titova, N. (2022). Educational experiments using living organisms: bioethical rationale for the correction of techniques. Filosofiya Osvity. Philosophy of Education, 27(2), 88–98. https://doi.org/10.31874/2309-1606-2021-27-2-6

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