Research Topics in Science and Engineering Ethics

My interests in ethics is focussed on science and engineering ethics, particularly on ethics of chemistry, nanotechnology, and synthetic biology.

Publications

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Books and Edited Volumes

Ethics of Chemistry: From Poison Gas to Climate Engineering, Singapore et al.: World Scientific Publishing, 2021 (editor with Tom Børsen)

Ethical Case Studies of Chemistry, Special Issue of Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry, 2016/17 (editor with Tom Børsen)

Regulating Nanotechnologies: Risk Management Models and Nanomedicine, Special Issue Nanoethics, 2-1 (2008), 39-100 (editor with Elena Pariotti)

Nanotechnologien im Kontext: Philosophische, ethische und gesellschaftliche Perspektiven, Berlin: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, 2006 [editor with Alfred Nordmann und Astrid Schwarz]

Nanotechnology Challenges: Implications for Philosophy, Ethics and Society, Singapur: World Scientific, 2006 [editor with Davis Baird].

Discovering the Nanoscale, Amsterdam: IOS Press, 2004 [editor with Davis Baird and Alfred Nordmann].

Ethics of Chemistry, Special Issue of Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry, 2001/02 (editor).

Glück und Ethik, Würzburg (Königshausen & Neumann) 1998 (editor).

Papers and Book Chapters

“Ethics of Chemistry: Meeting a Teaching Need”, in: Joachim Schummer & Tom Børsen (eds.), Ethics of Chemistry: From Poison Gas to Climate Engineering, Singapore et al.: World Scientific Publishing, 2021, pp. 1-27.

“The Chemical Prediction of Stratospheric Ozone Depletion: A Moral Model of Scientific Hazard Foresight”, Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry, 26 (2020), 31-54.

“Ethics of Chemical Weapons Research: Poison Gas in World War One”, Hyle: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry, 24 (2018), 5-28.

"Die Chemie als Teufelswerk? 2300 Jahre Chemiekritik", in: Marc-Denis Weitze, Joachim Schummer & Thomas Geelhaar (eds.): Zwischen Faszination und Verteufelung: Chemie in der Gesellschaft, Heidelberg: Springer, 2017, S. 9-21.

"‘Are you playing God?’: Synthetic Biology and the Chemical Ambition to Create Artificial Life", Hyle, 22 (2016), 149-172.

"The Creation of Life in Cultural Context: From Spontaneous Generation to Synthetic Biology", in: Mark A. Bedau & Emily C. Parke (eds.): The Ethics of Protocells: Moral and Social Implications of Creating Life in the Laboratory, Cambridge, MA: MIT-Press, 2009, pp. 125-142.

Das Gotteshandwerk: Die künstliche Herstellung von Leben im Labor, Suhrkamp, Berlin, 2011, chaps. 13-15.

"Nano-Ethik: Neue Aufgaben der Ethik", in: J. Schummer: Nanotechnologie: Spiele mit Grenzen, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 2009, chap. 10

“The Popularization of Emerging Technologies through Ethics: From Nanotechnology to Synthetic Biology”, Spontaneous Generation (Univ. of Toronto), 2 (1), 2008, 56-62.

“Regulating Nanotechnologies: Risk Management Models and Nanomedicine: Introduction”, Nanoethics, 2-1 (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.

"Identifying Ethical Issues of Nanotechnologies", in: Henk ten Have (ed.), Nanotechnology: Science, Ethics and Politics, Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 2007, 79-98.

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).

"Nano-Erlösung oder Nano-Armageddon? Technikethik im christlichen Fundamentalismus" (Nano-Salvation or Nano-Armageddon? Engineering Ethics in the Age of Christian Fundamentalism), in: Alfred Nordmann, Joachim Schummer & Astrid Schwarz (eds.): Nanotechnologien im Kontext: Philosophische, ethische und gesellschaftliche Perspektiven, Berlin: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, 2006, pp. 263-276.

"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).

"Societal and Ethical Implications of Nanotechnology: Meanings, Interest Groups, and Social Dynamics", Techne - Research in Philosophy and Technology, 8, no. 2 (2004), 56-87 (reprinted in: J. Schummer & D. Baird (eds.): Nanotechnology Challenges: Implications for Philosophy, Ethics and Society, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2006, pp. 413-449).

"Forschung für die Armen versus Forschung für die Reichen: Verteilungsgerechtigkeit als moralisches Kriterium zur Bewertung der angewandten Chemie", in: Clemens Sedmak (Ed.), Option für die Armen: Die Entmarginalisierung des Armutsbegriffs in den Wissenschaften, Freiburg i. Br. (Herder), 2005, pp. 605-626..

"Über das Streben nach Lust", in: H. Friesen & K. Berr (eds.), Angewandte Ethik im Spannungsfeld von Begründung und Anwendung, Frankfurt (Peter Lang) 2004, pp. 417-432.

"Ethics of Chemical Synthesis", Hyle, 7 (2001), 103-124.

"Zeitbewußtsein, Ökologie und Ethik", Antemnae (Rome), 3 (2001), 172-190.

"Glück und Ethik. Neue Ansätze zur Rehabilitierung der Glücksphilosophie", in: J. Schummer (Ed.), Glück und Ethik, Würzburg (Königshausen & Neumann) 1998, pp. 7-22.

Presentations

“Die Chemie als Teufelswerk? 2300 Jahre Chemiekritik” (Chemistry as Devil’s Work? 2300 Years of Chemistry Critique), Chemie und Gesellschaft, Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany, 15-17 April 2015.

“The Artificial Creation of Life: History and Ethics of Synthetic Biology”, Universidad de Santander, Colombia, 30 January 2015.

“Die künstliche Herstellung von Leben: Kulturhistorische und ethische Dimensionen” (The Artificial Creation of Life: Historical and Ethical Dimensions), Summer School Synthetische Biologie: Versprechungen und Risiken moderner Biotechnologie, Universität Heidelberg / Burg Trifels, 1-4 September 2014.

“Can we infer from the ‘normativity of life’ a normative argument for or against the artificial production of life?”, Workshop on ‘Normativität des Lebendigen’, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany 8-10 April 2013.

“Ethical and Social Issues of Nanotechnologies”, Global Conference on Ethics of Science and Technology, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines, 20-22 October 2011.

“Globalisation Issues of Nanotechnology”, Symposium on Nano-Ethics Education, University of Washington, Seattle, USA, 9-11 September 2009.

“Social and Ethical Issues of Nanotechnologies”, TU Chemnitz, 18 April 2008.

“Social and Ethical Issues of Nanotechnologies”, Coburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany, 9 November 2007.

“The Impact of Nanotechnologies on Developing Countries”, Biennial Conference of the Society for Philosophy of Technology, Charleston, SC, USA, 8-11 July 2007.

"Social and Ethical Issues of Nanotechnologies”, Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, 22 June 2007.

"Social and Ethical Issues of Nanotechnologies“, University of Sofia, Bulgaria, 22 May 2007.

“Social and Ethical Issues of Nanotechnologies”, 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.

“Cultural Diversity in Nanotechnology Ethics”, Department of Philosophy, University of Melbourne, Australia, 28 February 2007.

“Cultural 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.

“Philosophy and Ethics of Emerging Technologies”, Technical University Eindhoven, Netherlands, 3 May 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.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“Ethics in the Age of Fundamentalism: Vacillating Between Nano-Salvation and Nano-Armageddon”, Nano-Ethics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA, 2-6 March 2005.

“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).

“Ethics of Chemical Synthesis”, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA, 24 March 2004.

“Ethics of Chemical Synthesis”, Department of Philosophy, University of San Francisco, USA, 6 February 2004.

“Zeitbewußtsein, Ökologie und Ethik”, University of Darmstadt, Germany, 10 July 2003.

“Ethics of Technology”, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 27 March 2002.

“Ethics of Chemical Synthesis”, Conference of the International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry, Loughborough, U.K., 6-9 August 2001 (invited).

“Ethics of Chemical Research”, University of Freiburg, Germany, 26 October 1999.

“On Striving for Pleasure”, Third International Congress of the Society for Analytical Philosophy (GAP 3), University of Munic, Germany, 15-18 September 1997.