Ethics in the SciencesBiomedical, Biotechnological and Ecological Problems from the Scientific-Ethical Discussion in East and WestWorkshop in Tübingen, 14. - 21. July 1997
Objective of the WorkshopOver the past ten years, ethics of science has been intensified and institutionalized in the Western European countries. The establishment of scientific innovations and technological developments with a lasting and formative influence on the industrial societies (e.g. genetic engineering, computer science, and neurosciences) raises questions about the moral dimension of these developments. Additionally, since the 1960s and 70s, the political and moral orientations have been faced with justification problems demanding further ethical discussion. In the 80s and 90s, however, a more differentiated discussion tries to put ethical reflection into practice in the form of applied ethics relating to ongoing scientific developments. Here, attention focuses on medical developments as well as on ethical aspects of biotechnology and environmental technology. These scientific-ethical projects can be implemented only in interdisciplinary cooperation. Thus, new forms of interdisciplinary and international research cooperation are evolving, but they are still in their initial stages. Eastern European scientists hardly ever participate in Western European research contacts and institutionalized research cooperations. One of the reasons is that research contacts are promoted mostly within the framework of supportive programmes of the European Union. In Eastern Europe, the social changes of the past ten years have brought about a reorientation of the research scene. Biotechnology and biomedicine have found their way into medicine and natural sciences. This creates a new need for an ethical discussion which ought to be conducted scientifically, but for the most part, the necessary institutional framework is missing. The infrastructural deficiencies are in part due to the situation of Eastern European philosophy in the post-Marxist era. The ongoing reorientation of this subject makes the ethical discussion more difficult. In the long term, however, this state of flux might turn out to be a chance. The growing interest is indicated e.g. by the continuously large number of inquiries which the Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities receives from Eastern European countries. The objective of the workshop is an exchange between Western and Eastern European scientists about the scientific-ethical discussion. Such an exchange is imperative because the scientific and medical developments are also based on international collaboration. Therefore, there is a tendency to establish internationally recognized moral standards for the normative assessment of these developments. An example is the Bioethics-Convention of the European Council which tries to formulate common moral standards. The development of such standards is important and necessary. Otherwise there is the danger that research moves to countries with lower regulation (e.g. embryo research or biotechnological methods) without any public discussion whether this is desirable or how society assesses the risks involved. Here, the cultural backgrounds of the individual countries are significant. How are scientific-ethical questions discussed in the individual cultural contexts? Therefore, the joint workshop shall inform about the current state of ethical research in the different countries and about their forms of institutionalization. Moreover, there shall be an exchange of experiences as to which scientific-ethical questions are discussed in the individual countries and in which problem areas normative dissents emerge. An exchange about the individual discussions and potential conflicts is an indispensable precondition for sounding out the possibilities of a collaboration of Western and Eastern European ethical research and for a broader long-term consensus in scientific-ethical questions.
Description of the Content of the Workshop
Part I: Ethics of Sciences - Profiles and Institutions Part I: Ethics of Science - Profiles and InstitutionsAt first, the workshop will be concerned with fundamental questions of the ethics of science. A first aim will be to develop a profile of the current discussion on ethics of science and gain an overview of the forms in which ethics of science has become institutionalized. The point is not primarily to give a survey in terms of research politics; rather, the question is which thematic and methodological profile can be recognized in these institutionalizations. Such an overview and East-West comparison suggests itself for two reasons. On the one hand, the current scientific-ethical discussion in East and West is a fairly recent development which is still subject to great changes. Thus, an overview will be informative for all participants. On the other hand, the profile of ethics in science as regards content and method is still being created. As moral assessment of concrete scientific developments, ethics in science can only proceed interdisciplinarily. Ethics in science presupposes a collaboration with technology assessment. Prognosis of consequences of technical developments and comparison of alternative actions have to be evaluated on the basis of ethically substantiated criteria. Apart from technology assessment and the perspective of medicine and natural science, philosophy of law and theory of institutions supply relevant aspects. The interdisciplinary collaboration raises a number of basic philosophical-ethical and methodological questions which shall be addressed in a first section. The main interest will be how this profile of content and method turns out against the background of diverse social and cultural situations. Introducing reports on these problems from a philosophical point of view and about the structures of ethical institutions on the Western European level will be completed by contributions by the participating scientists. In further contributions, scientists from Eastern Europe shall inform about the situation in the individual Eastern European countries. What kinds of scientific-ethical institutions are there in the different countries? In which academic departments were they established? What about the institutional interconnections, what about advisory work for politicians? Which conception of ethics of science is pursued in these institutions? Furthermore, we would like to present a larger research cooperation which is currently established with the ZEW in charge: The European Network for Biomedical Ethics(javascriptDreiFenster('enbe_titel.html',0,'menue_enbe.html',1,'enbe.html',2)) : Ethical Problems of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) with Particular Regard to its Connection with Genetic Diagnosis and Therapy . This project involves 30 scientists and institutions from Western Europe, and it is an example for a Western European research cooperation. During the next years, the network will hold a number of conferences. At the same time, however, we shall present a central subject matter of biomedical ethics at the interface between reproductive medicine, human genetics, and embryo research. In the context of this project, a number of central aspects of biomedical ethics can be discussed. Here is a brief sketch of the thematic background of this project. The project suggests itself as topic for discussion because scientists from various Western European countries are participating in the network. But this project is not only an example for a research cooperation but can also facilitate the discussion about an advanced area of medical ethics. The differences in problem awareness and problem assessment in the various European countries shall be collected and examined. Inclusion of the Eastern European perspective is a valuable addition in so far as a consensus in these matters must reach also beyond the borders of Western Europe. Perhaps this workshop can initiate a collaboration with Eastern European scientists within the context of this project. Part II: Normative Dissents in East-West ComparisonWhereas the first part takes as its theme profiles and institutions of the ethics of science, the second part shall discuss principles and criteria significant to applied ethics. Eastern and Western discussions shall be compared, and the group of themes discussed in each case shall be established. The criteria of personal and human dignity as well as the social-ethical and environmental-ethical criteria (justice, intrinsic value of the creature) have to be expounded and evaluated in the same way as technology assessment and relevant ethical criteriology. An example for the diverging awareness of normative dissents is the Bioethics-Convention of the European Council which was meant to establish common medical-ethical standards for all countries of the European Council, i.e. also for Eastern European states. The controversy about this document shall exemplify different emphases and standards of discussion. This shall be demonstrated by a series of brief and highly controversial statements. In this context, there have been controversial debates about medical research using legally incompetent persons, research using embryos, analytical and therapeutic operations on the human genome, organ transplantation, and brain death. The European discussion about the draft of a Bioethics-Convention of the European Council has made clear that a European consensus on ethical questions is urgently needed and that there is a special public interest in these questions. It became also clear that such a consensus requires intensive European ethical research efforts. The significance of ethics of science in school lessons can serve to illustrate the social significance of ethics of science. A research project(javascriptDreiFenster('set_titel.html',0,'menue_set.html',1,'set.html',2)) on the significance of ethics of science in German schools is currently implemented at the ZEW, and there shall be a report on this project. In their contributions, Eastern European scientists should provide information about the social significance of ethics of science in their countries. Information - if available - about the relevance of ethics of science to school lessons if would be most welcome. Part III: Ethics of the Life SciencesWhereas the first two parts present mainly examples from medical ethics, central questions of an ethics of the life sciences shall be discussed on the last two days. We shall begin with questions about grounds for nature conversation(javascriptDreiFenster('nse_titel.html',0,'menue_nse.html',1,'nse.html',2)) and about the connection between ecology, theory of evolution, and ethics. The main question, however, will be how to handle biotechnology. Here, finished and ongoing ZEW-projects will be presented. Depending on the participants, there should also be reports on Eastern European projects and assessments. The contributions shall be rather short in order to have enough time for discussion. Biotechnology suggests itself in a special way as matter for discussion. The development of the molecular biological technologies and the general innovations in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering have, since the middle of the 1980s, led to a demand for ethical advice and an intensification of ethical research on questions concerning the development and application of biotechnological methods. The safety issues, the imminent changes in various areas of life due to the molecular biological technologies in medicine, nutrition, ecology, as well as several very new problems (e.g. release, patenting, transgenic organisms) have made such ethical research work necessary. Assessing the ethical aspects of biotechnological projects presupposes e.g. knowledge about their effects and side-effects as well as about the limits of our prognostic knowledge (discussion about uncertainty and risks). It has to be noted, however, that biotechnological innovations take place in the context of economic, legal, and social factors which have to be considered. Thus, the formation of environmentally relevant research - in the sense of a careful treatment of natural resources and of the disposal of pollutants - raises economic, legal, and social scientific questions concerning the controllability of social developments, responsibility in collective decision processes, and implementation of environmentally responsible principles of action in law and economy. Beyond that, an ethically sound assessment needs to be rooted in general social-ethical and environmental-ethical considerations which guarantee the normative basis of such research. Topics are: Careful handling of natural resources; relationship human being - nature; the special responsibility for non-human creatures capable of suffering; responsibility for future generations. Another issue will be the ethical assessment of molecular biological technologies. In Tübingen, interdisciplinary research projects on genetic engineering in agriculture, on release, and on transgenic animals have been carried out; the participating researchers can give detailed reports about their work. Here, what counts are not only the results and ensuing discussions but also methodological questions of an interdisciplinary argumentation for what is ethically right. Reports about Eastern European projects would be very welcome.
Working MethodThe workshop is not meant to be a sequence of lectures. Rather, it should be an open process of discussion gaining its impulses from short reports and contributions. The main purpose of the (short) lectures and (brief) contributions is to provide information. So far, only the contributions by the Western scientists (mostly from Tübingen) have concrete titles. The Eastern scientists should also make contributions, but not all participants are required to lecture. The contributions shall inform about the Eastern European ethics institutions, normative dissents, and the social relevance of ethics of science. Moreover, there should be reports about still ongoing or already finished research projects. In order to obtain a broad flow of information, we prefer several brief reports to few longer lectures. Concrete arrangements cannot be made until the registrations have arrived; the detailed plan of the programme should be made in cooperation with the participants (via letter or telephone). Which reports will actually be given depends on the participants. However, the reports need not be available before the beginning of the workshop.
Last modified on 21 April 1997 |