Research Project
"Philosophical, Ethical, and Social Dimensions of Nanotechnology"
Description
Praised as the technology of the 21st century with unprecedented revolutionary impact on every aspect of our culture, nanotechnology is currently attracting not only many researchers but also the public by inducing great hopes and fears. This project, started in 2002, is divided up in several subprojects, including
- issues of interdisciplinarity, the relationship between science and technology, and the variety of technological paradigms;
- ethical, legal, and societal issues of nanotechnologies;
- visions, politics, and public understanding of nanotechnology;
- the prehistory and critical historiography of nanotechnology;
- the role of visualization in nanotechnologies.
Funding
The project is mainly funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG) through a Heisenberg fellowship. Other parts of the project have been carried out as member of the University of South Carolina's Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team, funded by NSF; co-researcher of an NSF grant on International Collaborations on Engineering Ethics; visiting scholar of the Center of Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the Australian National University; visiting professor and co-researcher of a nanotechnology project at the University of Sofia; co-researcher of the EC funded project DEEPEN (Deepening Ethical Engagement and Participation in Emerging Nanotechnologies); and member of the nanooffice at the Technical University of Darmstadt.
Publications
(for paper downloads click here)
Books & Editions
Nanotechnologie: Spiele mit Grenzen (Nanotechnology: Playing with Boundaries), monograph in preparation, under contract with Suhrkamp (edition unseld).
Regulating Nanotechnologies, Special Issue of Nanoethics (Springer Journal), 2008 (editor with Elena Pariotti).
Nanotechnology Challenges: Implications for Philosophy, Ethics and Society, Singapore et al.: World Scientific Publishing, 2006 (editor with Davis Baird).
Nanotechnologien im Kontext: Philosophische, ethische und gesellschaftliche Perspektiven, Berlin: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, 2006 (editor with Alfred Nordmann and Astrid Schwarz).
Nanotech Challenges, joint special issue of Techne: Research in Philosophy and Technology and Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry 2004-5 (editor with Davis Baird).
Discovering the Nanoscale, Amsterdam: IOS Press, 2004, 2nd print 2005 (editor with Davis Baird & Alfred Nordmann).
Papers
“The Popularization of Emerging Technologies through Ethics: From Nanotechnology to Synthetic Biology”, Spontaneous Generation (Univ. of Toronto), 2, 2008 (forthcoming).
“Book Review: G. Schmid et al., Nanotechnology: Assessment and Practice”, Nanoethics, 2 (2008), forthcoming.
“On the Novelty of Nanotechnology: A Philosophical Essay”, in: Anthony Mark Cutter & Bert Gordijn (eds.): In Persuit of Nanoethics, Dordrecht, Springer (forthcoming).
“Science Communication across Disciplines”, in: Richard Holliman, Shelagh Ross, Eileen Scanlon, Sam Smidt & Jeff Thomas (eds.): Communicating Science in the Digital Age: Theory, research and professional practices, Oxford University Press & Open University Press, 2008 (in press).
“From Nano-Convergence to NBIC-Convergence: ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it’”, in: Sabine Maasen, Mario Kaiser, Monika Kurath & Christoph Rehmann-Sutter (eds.): Assessment Regimes of Technology: Identity, Ethics, and Governance of Nanotechnology, Heidelberg et al.: Springer (Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook) (forthcoming)..
"The Creation of Life in Cultural Context: From Spontaneous Generation to Synthetic Biology", in: Mark Bedau & Emily Parke (eds.): The Ethics of Protocells: Moral and Social Implications of Creating Life in the Laboratory, Cambridge, MA: MIT-Press, 2009 (in print)..
“Regulating Nanotechnologies: Risk Management Models and Nanomedicine”, Nanoethics, 2 (2008), 39-42 (with Elena Pariotti).
"The Impact of Nanotechnologies on Developing Countries", in: Fritz Allhoff, Patrick Lin, James Moor & John Weckert (eds.), Nanoethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2007, pp. 291-307.
"The Global Institutionalization of Nanotechnology Research: A Bibliometric Approach to the Assessment of Science Policy", Scientometrics, 70, no. 3 (2007), 669-692 (reprinted in: Tibor Braun & Martin Meyer (eds.), The Mechanism of Research on Nanostructures, Budapest: Akadémia Kiadó, 2008)..
"Cultural Diversity in Nanotechnology Ethics", Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 31 (2006), 217-230 (reprinted in Fritz Allhoff and Patrick Lin (eds.), Nanotechnology and Society: Current and Emerging Ethical Issues, Dordrecht: Springer, 2008, pp. 265-280).
"'Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology': Meanings, Interest Groups, and Social Dynamics", in: J. Schummer & D. Baird (eds.), Nanotechnology Challenges: Implications for Philosophy, Ethics and Society, Singapore et al.: World Scientific Publishing, 2006, 413-449.
"Nano-Erlösung oder Nano-Armageddon? - Technikethik im christlichen Fundamentalismus" (Nano-Salvation or Nano-Armageddon? Engineering Ethics in the Age of Christian Fundamentalism), in: A. Nordmann, J. Schummer & Astrid Schwarz (eds.), Nanotechnologien im Kontext: Philosophische, ethische und gesellschaftliche Perspektiven, Berlin: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, 2006, pp. 263-276.
"Identifying Ethical Issues of Nanotechnologies", in: Henk ten Have (ed.), Nanotechnology: Science, Ethics and Politics, Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 2007, pp. 79-98.
"Teaching Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology to Engineering Students through Science Fiction", Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, 25 (2005), 459-468 (with Rosalyn Berne).
"Gestalt Switch in Molecular Image Perception: The Aesthetic Origin of Molecular Nanotechnology in Supramolecular Chemistry", Foundations of Chemistry, 8 (2006), 53-72.
"Reading Nano: The Public Interest in Nanotechnology as Reflected in Book Purchase Patterns", Public Understanding of Science, 14, (2005), 163-183.
"'Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology': Meanings, Interest Groups, and Social Dynamics", Techne - Research in Philosophy and Technology, 8 no. 2 (2004), 56-87.
"Bibliography of Studies on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology", in: D. Baird, A. Nordmann, J. Schummer (eds.), Discovering the Nanoscale, IOS Press, Amsterdam 2004, pp. 311-316.
"Interdisciplinary Issues of Nanoscale Research", in: D. Baird, A. Nordmann & J. Schummer (eds.), Discovering the Nanoscale, IOS Press, Amsterdam, 2004, pp. 9-20.
"Multidisciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity, and Patterns of Research Collaboration in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology", Scientometrics, 59 (2004), 425-465.
Presentations
“Walking Nano and Converging Technologies Through Society”, Twente University, Netherlands, 14 August 2008.
"The Rhetoric of Converging Technologies", Workshop on Knowledge Politics and Converging Technologies, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium, May 6-7 2008.
"Ethical and Social Issues of Nanotechnologies", TU Chemnitz, 18 April 2008.
"Ethical and Social Issues of Nanotechnologies", Coburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany, 9 November 2007.
“Epistemological Limits of Microscopic Precision”, Workshop on Visualizing the Invisible: Microscopic Processes in the Laboratory, Deutsches Museum, Munic, Germany, 18-19 October 2007.
“The Impact of Nanotechnologies on Developing Countries”, Biennial Conference of the Society for Philosophy of Technology, Charleston, SC, USA, 8-11 July 2007.
"Ethical and Social Issues of Nanotechnologies", University of Braunschweig, Germany, 25. May 2007.
"Ethical and Social Issues of Nanotechnologies“, University of Sofia, Bulgaria, 22 June 2007.
"From Nano-Convergence to NBIC-Convergence: ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it’”, Workshop on Deliberating Future Technologies, University of Basel, Switzerland, 5 May 2007
“Ethical Issues of Nanotechnology”, Technical University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 18 April 2007.
“The Impact of Nanotechnologies on Developing Countries”, 8th Asian Bio-Ethics Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 19 March 2007.
“Social and Ethical Issues of Nanotechnologies”, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia, 5 March 2007.
“Diversity in Nanotechnology Ethics”, Department of Philosophy, University of Melbourne, Australia, 28 February 2007.
“Diversity in Nanotechnology Ethics”, Center for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 9 February 2007.
“‘Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology’: Meanings, Interest Groups and Social Dynamics”, Workshop on Visions of Nanotechnology, Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities, University of Tübingen, Germany, 24 June 2006.
“The Dynamics of Nanotechnology Visions”, Twente University, Netherlands, 4 May 2006.
“Philosophy and Ethics of Emerging Technologies”, Technical University Eindhoven, Netherlands, 3 May 2006.
"Metaphysical Orientation and its Price: The Notion of Nature in Nanotechnology Reports”, Workshop on The Challenge of Nanotechnology to Ontology, Ethics, and Society, University of Padova, Italy, 10 March 2006 .
“Identifying Ethical Issues of Nanotechnology Amidst the Nano Hype”, UNESCO Expert Group on Nanotechnology and Ethics, UNESCO, Paris, France, 5-7 December, 2005.
“Communicating 'Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology'”, Nano-Workshop, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, 4 November 2005.
“Self-Assembly versus Atom-by-Atom-Manipulation: Conflicting Technological Paradigms in Nanotechnology”, 9th International Symposium on the Philosophy of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA, 7-11 August 2005.
“Cultural Conditions for Perceiving Ethical Issues of Nanotechnology”, German-Chinese Symposium on Ethics of Science and Technology, Dalian, China, 17-22 July 2005.
“Identifying Ethical Issues of Nanotechnology Amidst the Nano Hype”, UNESCO Expert Group on Nanotechnology and Ethics, UNESCO, Paris, France, 5-6 July, 2005.
“Making Molecules Look Like Machines”, Imaging NanoSpace, ZIF, University of Bielefeld, Germany, 11-14 May 2005.
“Visionary Alliances in the American Debate on ‘Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology’”, Institute for Science and Technology Studies (IWT), University of Bielefeld, Germany, 9 May 2005.
“Interdisciplinarity in Nanoscale Research”, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, 18 April 2005.
“Visionary Alliances in the American Debate on ‘Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology’”, Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe, Germany, 11 April 2005.
“The Twisted History of Supramolecular Chemistry: Or, why relabeling supramolecular chemistry ‘nano’ is both justified and welcome”, Nano Before There Was Nano: Historical Perspectives on the Constituent Communities of Nanotechnology, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 18-19 March 2005.
“Ethics in the Age of Fundamentalism: Vacillating Between Nano-Salvation and Nano-Armageddon”, Nano-Ethics Conference, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA, 2-6 March 2005.
“Interdisciplinarity and Multidisciplinarity in Nanoscale Research”, Nanotechnology in Science, Economy and Society, University of Marburg, Germany, 13-15 January 2005.
“Techno-Scientism as Religion: Transhumanism”, University of Darmstadt, Germany, 3 November 2004.
“Teaching Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology to Engineering Students”, International Conference on Engineering Education, University of Florida, Gainesville FL, USA, 16-21 October 2004 (with Rosalyn Berne).
“Interdisciplinarity in Nanoscale Research”, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA, 14 April 2004.
“The Aesthetic Origin of Nanotechnology in Supramolecular Chemistry: Gestalt Switch in Molecular Image Perception”, Imaging and Imagining NanoScience and Engineering”, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA, 3-7 March 2004.
“Interdisciplinarity in Nanoscale Research”, Department of Chemistry, University of San Francisco, USA, 5 February 2004.
“Patterns of Interdisciplinarity in Nanoscale Research”, Nanoelectronics Symposium, Nanocenter, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA, 21 November 2003 (poster presentation).
“Multidisciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity, and Patterns of Collaborations in Nanoscale Research”, Annual Meeting of the Society of Social Studies of Science (4S), Atlanta, GA, USA, 16-19 October, 2003.
“Interdisciplinary Issues of Nanoscale Research, II”, Discovering the Nanoscale II, University of Darmstadt, Germany, 9-12 October 2003.
“Interdisciplinary Issues of Nanoscale Research, I”, Discovering the Nanoscale I, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA, 20-23 March 2003.
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