Do Genetic Findings Impact Perceptions of Responsibility?
When: May 28, 2021
Since the start of the Human Genome Project, bioethicists and geneticists have speculated that genetic information can have large impacts on how people understand what they—and other people—are responsible for or responsible to do. At this conference, we will:
1) reflect on the many, complicated ways in which the term responsibility is used;
2) consider two specific contexts in which genetic information can impact perceptions of responsibility; and
3) step back and examine the extent to which the initial speculation about large impacts has been borne out by the evidence.
Agenda:
Introduction
Erik Parens, The Hastings Center
Overview of the “responsibilities” encountered by the Columbia-Hastings Center for Research on Ethical, Legal & Social Implications of Psychiatric, Neurologic & Behavioral Genetics.
Paul Appelbaum, Columbia University
Watch Introduction and Overview
Session 1. An overview of the concept of “genetic responsibility.”
Presenter: Silke Schicktanz, University of Göttingen
Discussant: Lisa S. Parker, University of Pittsburgh
Session 2. Impacts on patients and their sense of responsibility associated with receiving genetic information about psychiatric diseases.
Presenter: Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Yale University
Discussant: Larisa Heiphetz, Columbia University
Session 3. Impacts on prospective parents and their sense of responsibility associated with receiving genetic information about their fetuses.
Presenter: Stina Lou, Aarhus University
Discussant: Kimberly Mutcherson, Rutgers University
Session 4. How do the impacts on notions of responsibility that have been found measure up to the original concerns about geneticization?
Presenter: Paul Martin, University of Sheffield
Discussant: Carlos Novas, Carleton University
Wrap-up questions and comments from the audience.
Facilitated by Kathryn Tabb
This symposium is sponsored by the Center for Research on Ethical, Legal & Social Implications of Psychiatric, Neurologic & Behavioral Genetics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute, in collaboration with The Hastings Center.