[Research and ethical measures] [Article in German]

Abstract

Large parts of our modern world are products of science and technology. Natural structures are decreasing, artificial (technical) structures are increasing. This is not only true for technical or technically-based developments in the strict sense (e.g. information and communication technologies), but also for developments in the fields of medicine and biology (e.g. reproductive medicine, gene technology). At the same time, progress based on science and technology is proving limitless. So, it is necessary to think about human measures that can be applied to scientific and technological advances, and to realise them. These are questions posed by scientific ethics, about contrasting pure knowledge provision with orientated knowledge finding. Scientific ethics show themselves to be part of general civil ethics, instead of special ethics in the usual sense, and are connected with them through a special ethos, the scientist's ethos.