Wilhelm Vossenkuhl, Ludwig Maximilians Universität

The course discusses some of the major problems in Bioethics, with a special bias on Medical Ethics. It refers to the problems discussed in contemporary literature as, e.g., paternalism, autonomy, the allocation of organs, xeno-transplants, human embryonic stem-cell research, cloning, and the death of species.

•  Week 1: Autonomy: Beauchamp/Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, part II, 3.
•  Week 2: Nonmaleficence: Beauchamp/Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, part II, 4.
•  Week 3: Beneficence: Beauchamp/Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, part II, 5.
•  Week 4: Professional-Patient Relationships: Beauchamp/Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, part II, 7.
•  Week 5: Defining Death: R. Veach, Death, Dying, and the Biological Revolution, chap.1.and 2.
•  Week 6: Dying Morally: R. Veach, Death, Dying, and the Biological Revolution, chap.3.
•  Week 7: Organ-Transplantation: Oduncu/Schroth/Vossenkuhl (Göttingen 2003), part I (post-mortal organ transplantation)
•  Week 8: Organ-Transplantation: Oduncu/Schroth/Vossenkuhl (Göttingen 2003), part II (ethical and legal questions)
•  Week 9: Stem-cell research and cloning: Oduncu/Schroth/Vossenkuhl (Göttingen 2002), chap. I
•  Week 10: Stem-cell research and cloning: Oduncu/Schroth/Vossenkuhl (Göttingen 2002), chap. II
•  Week 11: Ecological ethics: M. Gorke, The Death of Our Planet's Species, part A
•  Week 12: Ecological ethics: M. Gorke, The Death of Our Planet's Species, part B

The course will make use of these texts:
- Beauchamp, T.; Childress, J.F., Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 5 th ed., New York/Oxford 2001.
- Engelhardt, H.T.Jr., The Foundations of Bioethics, New York 1996.
- Veach, Robert M., Death, Dying, and the Biological Revolution. Our Last Quest for Responsibility, New Haven/London: Yale University Press 1989.
- Gorke, M., The Death of Our Planet's Species. A Challenge to Ecology and Ethics, Washington e.a.: Island Press 2003.
- Oduncu, F.; Schroth, U.; Vossenkuhl, W., (Hrsg.), Stammzellenforschung und therapeutisches Klonen, Göttingen 2002.
- Oduncu, F.; Schroth, U.; Vossenkuhl, W., (Hrsg.), Transplantation. Organgewinnung und –allokation, Göttingen 2003.

Relevant parts of these texts will be available (in photocopies) at the beginning of the course.