Department of (Social-)Ethics

Welcome to the pages of the Department of (Social) Ethics!

The Department of (Social) Ethics explores the ethical and governance opportunities and challenges in the interplay between society and technology. We want to better understand how new (technological) developments change social life forms and institutions and how to responsibly shape these changes. In order to understand the disruptive character of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data or Genome Editing, we use empirical methods to investigate societal values, attitudes and perceptions. On the other hand, we use analytical-hermeneutic methods to understand how certain norms or concepts, such as vulnerability, self-determination, health and illness, justice or solidarity, can provide orientation or need to be innovated and rethought. By means of these two perspectives, we develop options for behavior and action for the social design of dealing with new technologies.