Bioethics, Orwell & Autumn

Reflecting on Literature and Languages #4 (September 2024)

This is my fourth newsletter already! Time flies. September was a good reading month for me (I hope for you too). I have finished four books, and loved all of them! Most of my reading was thesis focused (so a lot of bioethics), however, since it’s finally Fall season, I have also tried to pick up some books and stories with an autumnal atmosphere. I had one spontaneous and unplanned pick (The Iliac Crest) just for the fun of it. And I was fascinated by Orwell’s writing and story creation during my reading of 1984 and the other novel that it had inspired; 1Q84 by Murakami.

Read in September

Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics by Onora O’Neill 4/5

This was a reread for me. I have read this book in June for my thesis (it’s a fundamental work for my arguments) but I needed to reread it since some of O’Neill’s arguments are difficult to grasp the first time. She doesn’t use difficult language per se, however, I’ve found her way of building the argument scheme complex.

The book (a philosophical non-fiction) is about the way concepts of autonomy and trust are viewed and used in the field of bioethics. The interesting fact about bioethics is that it’s not a solid discipline but rather a combination of different fields (medicine, science, technology, biology) enveloped with philosophy (in particular the study of moral philosophy; ethics). O’Neill’s point is that for the last few decades (let’s say after the second World War) there have been a major shift in science and medicine towards individual autonomy (for good reasons: to reject paternalism and protect patients and research subjects). However, individual autonomy is hard to grasp and describe, especially in medicine and health care. Most people are incapable of expressing their autonomy when they are severely ill. And the concept is often seen as useless in the fields of environmental ethics and public health. The way that individual autonomy is mostly protected now, is through informed consent. Traditional relationships of trust are changed for informed consent procedures. There are more regulations, more guidelines, but trust is declining.

So in her book (and in more articles that she has written on this subject) she explains how the increase of autonomy and the decrease of trust are related. She does this by various examples: reproductive autonomy in the age of new technology, media and bioethics, and the various limitations of informed consent. And she gives a new concept of autonomy that would be more fitting for the field of bioethics; principled autonomy inspired by Kant.

It’s an interesting book, touching on various complex themes. I think that I would have to reread some parts of this book a couple of times more, because there is just too much in it.

1984 by George Orwell 5/5

Judging from all the dystopian novels that I have read so far, this is the best one. Fahrenheit 451 is a beginning, 1984 is the end; there is no way out. Ogawa’s The Memory Police doesn’t even come close to the level of Orwell’s dystopia. Orwell thought of everything, Big Brother sees all, no one can be trusted and a new revolution is out of the question. And still, until the very last page, as a reader you hold hope.

The story follows Winston, a middle-aged man, working for the Ministry of Truth and living his life quietly and afraid. Until he meets Julia. He starts to realize that he is not the only one with rebellious ideas about the current system. Not the only one who commits thinkcrime.

The story is about love and resistance. It explains how systems of such totalitarian idiocracy can function while at the same time being totally absurd. The inspiration for the story was the communist regime in the Soviet Union, however, it can be applied to many types of regimes even ones in our current time. Orwell has also an insightful view on revolutions, one that makes you question if revolutions have ever succeeded in creating a better future:

‘’Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.’’

While reading this novel I realized more and more why it makes sense that this book was forbidden in some countries. It makes you question the injustice that most governments commit to. I was inspired to do a little research on banned or legally challenged books. See my blog post on book banning and censorship for more thoughts on this subject.

I’m planning to read more dystopian novels (with a philosophical twist) and I think the next two works that I would like to explore are: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin and Kallocain by Karin Boye.

The Ghost Prison by Joseph Delaney 4/5

A very short children’s novella. I saw it lying in a thrift shop and I couldn’t ignore it. The book cover stood out, and when I looked inside, I saw beautiful ink art work surrounding the story. I would have loved such a book as a child, so I decided to read it and get my first step into the fun spooky vibe of this autumn. Besides, I think we are never too old to read children’s books.

It’s a simple story, but it has some interesting moments. I really liked one part where one of the prison guards mentions the death of his wife and the sad reality of not seeing her ghost while working in a haunted prison.

‘’It’s funny, isn’t it? All these castle ghosts, but never once did the spirit I most wished to see come back to say farewell’’

The Iliac Crest by Cristina Rivera Garza 4/5

I didn’t plan to read this novel during this month, however, I’m glad that I did. This was my first step into Mexican literature. Rivera Garza was born near the US-Mexican border, which has influenced her writing. The Iliac Crest is filled with all kinds of different borders. The border between men and women, sane and insane, prison and freedom, and ultimately between life and death. Our main character, definitely a man, works in a hospital located in no man’s land between the border of North and South city. Patients don’t recover here, they come to die. He hates his job, the only reason that he stays there is the ocean. But everything changes when two women arrive at his steps and claim his house. One of them, Amparo Davila, The False One, scares him. The other, The Betrayed, irritates him. He begins to doubt his gender, his life and his memories.

The whole novel feels like a fever-dream. The main character is in a nightmare, looking for answers to come out.

I like books which are experimental in their writing style, especially, when the experiment works well. Also through reading this novel, I came to know a couple of other Mexican authors who I would like to read in the future. One of them is Amparo Davila herself. The others are: Yuri Herrera, Juan Rulfo, and Alfonso Reyes.

Currently Reading

A Poem for Every Autumn Day edited by Allie Esiri

An anthology of autumnal poems. Not all the poems have an obvious connection with autumn, but most of them do. Allie Esiri’s anthologies are famous for their interesting choices in poetry and beautiful cover designs. For someone who is not well familiar with poetry, like me, this is a good introduction. From the start of September until the end of November, for every autumn day, the book contains a morning and an evening poem. All poems are shortly introduced to provide some background information.

I have bought this anthology last year October and read through some of the poems. But now I’m going to read through them all. I’m not a booktok (tiktok for books) enthusiast and I never buy books because of a tiktok hype. But I have to admit that when I saw Helena Bonham Carter read from this anthology on tiktok, I fell in love with her way of reading and the poem that she presented. The poem in question is The Guest House by Rumi.

My favourite poem of September is Take a Poem by James Carter. It’s easy, practical and fun.

I will be reading this book until the last poem, so until the end of November.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

The story is comprised of three novels, but the edition that I’m reading has combined all three novels in one book, so it’s quite large (1300+) pages. I’m reading it on my Kindle, because I find it easier to read longer books on there (with the exception of philosophical works, since I like to underline some parts of the text, write notes in the margins, etc., and that’s just easier in a physical book). Right now, I’m in the middle of book two. Even though it’s a long story, there are no dull parts. The two main characters, Tengo and Aomame, are weirdly interesting in their own way. And it’s a lot of fun to slowly find out how they are connected. The novel is a homage to writing and literature. The title already suggests the obvious connection to and inspiration from 1984. But there are more book references in there.

I hope to finish 1Q84 in October and give you a more detailed opinion in my review.

The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings by Edgar Allan Poe

A collection of Poe’s poems, short stories, essays and reviews. I started this collection last year, during the Fall season, and I hope to finish it this year. I reread The Fall of the House of Usher and a couple of other stories and poems. I still have some stories to get through, before I arrive to his essays and reviews (which is the last part of the book). I like reading essays from fiction writers, especially ones about the craft of writing, so I hope I will find some of those.

Poe’s writing is magical. He invents words and makes references to historical events or characters which are a mystery to me. Old forgotten Gods, Goddesses, and demons. With every story, I learn at least ten new words. So far, reading Poe in English has been a challenge, but also a delight.

Technology and the Virtues by Shannon Vallor

I have been reading this book on and off for a while now (2+ months), I also need to read it for my thesis. I plan to finish it in October, and I hope to complete my entire thesis draft in October or at it’s latest in the beginning of November. And this book is a necessary addition to my last chapter.

Vallor uses virtue ethics to come up with a plan for living and working with new technology. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is the groundwork of virtue ethics, but she also explores contemporary virtue ethicists and Eastern ideas on virtues. A very useful work but also very complex and probably in the opposite range from O’Neill’s main arguments. So it would be a challenge to compare these two at the end of my thesis and see if they have a joint meeting ground in their views.

Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

A read-along hosted by Jared Henderson (see his Substack for details). The read along is actually completed during this month, but unfortunately I’m way behind the schedule. I will read it further on my own and try to finish it before the end of the year. Reading (difficult) philosophical works takes a lot of time; you really have to concentrate on the text and often reread some parts. So it really helps when you can tag alone with a book club like this one.

The Principles of Biomedical Ethics by Beauchamp and Childress

This work could be seen as The Textbook for bioethics. I had to read multiple chapters for my thesis, so I eventually decided to read the entire book. It will take me some time to get through it, especially because I’m in the middle of multiple other books and did not plan to read it in it’s entirety from the start. However, I think that in the end it will be worth the trouble. I’m reading the latest edition (8th edition from 2019) because there is a lot of change in the field of bioethics and this book follows the changes. The authors make adjustments following current discussions and ethical issues.

As you may have noticed, I like to read multiple books simultaneously. This has really helped me with getting out of a reading slump in the past and it has worked for me ever since I started doing it. However… please learn from my mistakes and do not try to read multiple philosophical works at the same time. That’s just a bad idea. Next time, I will try to plan it differently as well.

I think a good working combination of books is: one or two fiction novels (depends on the length and difficulty), one non-fiction (philosophy or something else), and maybe a collection of poems or short stories.

Language Learning

I did it. With pain in my heart, I cancelled my WaniKani subscription. It was one of my first learning resources for Japanese. In last month’s newsletter, I talked about how important it is to have a daily routine. I constructed a learning routine for myself and tried to stick to it. Now I realize that even three main learning resources are still too much for the amount of time that I have in a day for studying. The whole month I did not touch WaniKani and that’s a shame. In October, I would have to pay for another year, thus I decided to cancel the subscription. For now, I will continue focusing on Kanshudo and also immersion through reading and watching content in Japanese.

Because reading is part of my routine, and I have been reading ふしぎ駄菓子屋 銭天堂 now for more than a year (and only got through the first 3 pages…) I decided to participate in a reading challenge, starting on the 5th of October and during until the 15th of December, hosted by ko.studygram (#readwithko). If you have an Instagram account and you would like to read a book in a foreign language, think about participating in this challenge too. Like I said earlier, it is sometimes better to read difficult texts together and nothing is so difficult as reading in a new language. Even if no one is reading the same book as you, it can still be beneficial for your motivation.

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I hope you all have a great spooky month and enjoy all of your readings!

If you would like to know what I’m planning to read during the months of October and November, then check out my Autumn TBR. Or you can wait for the next newsletter to find out.

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