LAWI100047 Ethics in science, technology development and society

Type
course with continuous assessment
Semester hours
3
Lecturer (assistant)
Steffens, Lasse , Giese, Bernd Moritz
Organisation
Safety and Risk Sciences
Offered in
Sommersemester 2027
Languages of instruction
Deutsch
Content

The course is designed to enable participants to recognize the seriousness and range of moral conflicts and to take a reasoned stance on ethical issues. To this end, through lectures and group exercises based on current case studies (e.g., GMOs, biofuels, in vitro meat, patents on organisms, and gene drives), they will become familiar with the following topics:

1. Value neutrality in science and research?
- The claim of value neutrality
- Epistemic values vs. moral values
- Science as social practice: Why complete value neutrality remains categorically impossible

2. Characterization of technology:
- Introduction to the scope and impact of technical actions and the associated risk potential
- Non-knowledge in connection with technical action
- Case studies on various technologies, such as GMOs, biofuels, in vitro meat, patents on organisms, and gene drives

These case studies serve as practical examples to support the instruction of further topics covered in the course:

3. Basic concepts in ethical theory
- The concept of normativity and its problematic nature
- Reasons for action and their justification

4. Technology ethics and moral theories
- Deontological approaches: Formal principles and their limits
- Utilitarian traditions: maximizing utility and the problem of comparison

5. Responsibility of science and research
- Autonomy, responsibility, and the question of moral attribution
- Responsibility for what? For new perceptions? For consequences? For governance?
- The question of collectivity: individual vs. institutional vs. systemic responsibility
- Dialectic of knowledge progress and risk: why more knowledge does not automatically lead to better decisions

6. Precautionary principle
- Precaution as responsible handling of ignorance
- Types of interpretation of the precautionary principle
- The precautionary principle in European risk regulation
Previous knowledge expected

No requirements
Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

The course enables students to discuss the risks of science, research, and technological development from a moral perspective considering ethical terms and concepts. They develop an expanded awareness of the social and environmental impacts of technological actions.

Students are familiar with important moral concepts. Their moral judgment regarding science, research, and development and the complex contexts of action and interdependencies associated with them has matured.

Students recognize the dimensions of responsibility and can distinguish between individual and societal responsibilities. They can explain the precautionary principle as an example of responsible handling of ignorance in risk technologies and also identify possibilities for precautionary action for specific cases. The case studies, conducted from various perspectives, serve this purpose above all.
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.