Anmeldung: Ethics in Science: Research on humans [ENG]

Registrations of doctoral candidates will be considered preferentially. 

Completion of the mandatory preparatory tasks (approximately four hours) is a prerequisite for participation in the course.

IMPORTANT: If the tasks have not been completed and uploaded, you will not have access to the web conference room!

Research on humans is always an ethically sensitive matter that deserves close scrutiny. A plethora of historical examples show how the ostensibly good cause was done a disservice. Today, under the civilisational standards of our time, the worst excesses of the past should have been relegated to the realms of the immoral and illegal. But we still want to generate knowledge about people, human actions and, for example, pharmacological effects on people – mostly under constrains in regard to time and cost. Beyond a shared foundation of common morality, what is forbidden in one country may be permitted elsewhere – and vice versa.

But what can be said about that from an ethical perspective? How much universalism do we insist on? What norms do we share and what differences remain and why? What do we consider permissible in everyday life and what acceptable in crisis situations (like the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic)? On whom should research be allowed under which circumstances and for which purpose? Who should be allowed to profit from it afterwards and to what extent? What risks do we want to accept for test subjects and society, and what compensation would be fair for the more or less voluntary participation in studies?

In the course, we want to deal with these questions, reflect on our own positions and search for justifiable answers in a deliberative setting.

Content and Learning Objectives

• Train the ability to analyze normative challenges
• Be able to differentiate between different levels of ethical decision-making
• Developing the ability to make moral judgments
• Sensitization for research-ethical and science-theoretical questions
• Reflection on research ethical challenges