Paavan Atluri

Author: Paavan Atluri | Major: Philosophy; Spanish | Semester: Fall 2024

During the spring of 2023, I reached out to Dr. Funkhouser, the chair of the philosophy department, about getting involved in research pertaining to bioethics. Dr. Funkhouser specializes in philosophy of mind research, so he recommended that I consult Dr. Donohue as that was her expertise. Dr. Donohue was gracious enough to accept me as her mentee and has been a tremendous anchor of support during this research process. After meeting with her, we were able to brainstorm a project together. The project is centered around euthanasia and explores the practice in pets and questions why the practice should not be legalized for people.

I’ve done independent research in the past that was more biologically related to Alzheimer’s disease, so I didn’t know what to expect in terms of the philosophical research process or mentorship. Dr. Donohue provided the blueprint for both.  I was very fortunate to enroll in Dr. Donohue’s Contemporary Ethical Theory class during the fall 2024 semester. In class, Dr. Donohue made it a point to challenge our ethical intuitions and make us critically think about moral frameworks. Her class has been far and away one of the biggest contributors to the way I view ethics presently and has made me reevaluate certain biases and partialities that I previously held. Ethics is a field that needs to be met with nuance and her class has equipped me with much more than I previously had. Outside of class, she has helped by giving me reading material to better inform my understanding of ethics as well as with the research paper. My favorite thus far has been John Rawl’s “Theory of Justice”.

One of the most challenging parts about the writing process is just getting started. It’s easy to feel inadequate when there are so many great philosophers that contribute to the literature. Something that I realized about myself this semester is that I need to be confident in what I write and have conviction in my opinions. Everyone must start somewhere and by recognizing and actively reminding myself of this, I’ve been able to make much more progress in my writing as well as have a much more positive outlook on the quality of my work. I do struggle at times by being overly critical of my writing, but I am glad that I am taking steps to be cognizant of this fact as well as overcome it.

On a more positive note, I was able to present at the Honors College Research Symposium last semester. This was the first time I gave a poster presentation, and I learned a great deal. Over the course of the day, I noticed that I was structuring my presentation differently and taking steps to make the information more appealing and digestible to the audience. It was a great experience to boost my public-speaking ability as well as work on ways to present more academic philosophical concepts in ways that are outside the expertise of the audience.

I am very grateful to have received the Honors College Grant. It has enabled me to explore an independent research project that I am very passionate about and. Next semester, I will be done with the research paper and will be ready to defend my thesis. This research to me is not something that exists in a vacuum but serves an important purpose. As someone who wants to pursue a career in medicine, questions relating to medical ethics have always been of great interest to me. Euthanasia is a hotly debated topic in the medical field. Right now, it is illegal in most of the United States. If it is morally permissible and we are disallowing it, many individuals and families are suffering. By writing this paper, I hope to contribute my thoughts to the conversation and build the ethical reasoning skills that I will employ in the future as a physician.