Titel: Human Nature and the Sciences. Current Challenges in a Franco-German Perspektive

Termin: 17.9.2003, 17:00 Uhr, bis 19.9.2003, 12:30 Uhr

Veranstaltungsort:
Schloss Engers
Alte Schlossstraße 2
56566 Neuwied-Engers

Referenten: M. Imbert (Paris, France) * P. Janich (Marburg, Germany) * P. la Marne (Paris, France) * M. Quante (Berlin, Germany) * A. Munnich (Paris, France) * C. F. Gethmann (Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany) * C. Debru (Paris, France)

Kurzbeschreibung: Recent developments in the natural sciences and in medicine are afflicted with moral problems that are controversially debated in science, politics and the public. The seriousness with which these problems are discussed is to a large extend due to the fact that apparent constants of the condition humaine were put under heavy pressure: Longstanding convictions such as "freedom of the will", inaccessibility of our genetic makeup for international changes, or the moral preference for a natural, un-influenced death process seem no longer to be self-understanding and beyond criticism. What is at stake in the eyes of many is not just some minor changes to our way of life. Rather the very core of human nature seems to be jeopardized. The Europäische Akademie takes the intense debate on the neurosciences, the "new" genetics, and on euthanasia as an occasion to discuss the question of human nature in the light of the modern sciences.

The conference will bring together scholars from France and Germany. The reason for this twofold: On the one hand, there is evidence that the conceptualisation of human natur and its moral evaluation are considerably different in the two countries. One the other hand, cross-border cooperation in evaluating new technologies with respect to their impact on society is regrettably less well developed than cooperation in basic research. Therefore, it is hoped that the conference will contribute to impoving the scientific exchange between our two countries.

The proceedings of the conference will be published as a volume of the series "Wissenschaftsethik und Technikfolgenbeurteilung" (Ethics of Science and Technology Assessment) edited by the Europäische Akademie.

Kontakt: Europäische Akademie GmbH
Wilhelmstraße 56
53474 Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler

phone: +49 - (0)2641 - 97 33 00
fax: +49 - (0)2641 - 97 33 20

europaeische.akademie@dlr.de
http://www.europaeische-akademie-aw.de

Veranstalter: Europäische Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-technischer Entwicklungen Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH

Schlagworte: Humangenetik, Lebensende, Lebensverlängerung, Sterbehilfe, Technikfolgenabschätzung