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Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:28:36
Abstract
The aim of the seminar is to make the participants familiar with the most important questions, positions and arguments in the bioethical debate concerning the areas mentioned in the description.
Objective
The aim of the seminar is to make the participants familiar with the most important questions, positions and arguments in the bioethical debate concerning the areas mentioned in the description.
Content
Some of the central topics in Bioethics are moral questions, that arise in connection with the demand for the legal regulation of abortion, embryo research, pre-implantational diagnostics (›negative eugenics‹), manipulation of the human germline (›positive eugenics‹), organ transplantation and euthanasia. Of particular interest from a philosophical point of view are reasons for possible commitments concerning the beginning and the end of human live and personal existence, the range of patient autonomy and the permissibility of intentional selection of the genetic features of the offspring by their parents. These topics have received a lot of attention in the media and even in a wider public in recent years. Their actuality is obviously due to dramatic progresses in molecular medicine and biotechnology. Especially the possible perspectives of genetic engineering affect central aspects of human self-understanding and confronts us with questions, that threaten to leave common moral intuitions or assumptions behind. On the other hand we can take medical possibilities and future scenarios about genetic-engineering – regardless of the probability of their realisation – as a test case of the adequateness of different ethical approaches.
Resources
Literature
A literature list will be handed out at the beginning of the semester. Recommended for preparatory reading: Thomas Schramme, 'Bioethik', Frankfurt am Main (Campus) 2002.
General Information
- Language
- German
- Levels
- DS
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| seminar | Bioethik |
|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (In order to be awarded credits, please register under "Pflichtwahlfach GESS"!. The language courses are offered by the ETH and University of Zurich Language Center ( ))
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