Department of Ethics and Education
Director:
Dr. Julia Dietrich
Tel.: +49 / 7071 / 29-77986
Staff:
Dr. Julia Dietrich, Coordination, EPG Office of Coordination
Dr. Uta Müller, EPG Office of Coordination
Mone Spindler, Discourse: Biogerontology
Ilona Szlezák, Seminar (dis)course Ethics
Lieske Voget-Kleschin, Counseling Food Ethics
Adrienne Marquart, student assistant
Task
The department ethics and education focuses on the theory of both ethical education and the formation of judgment and promotes the communication between the International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities and the field of education. How does the formation of judgment ‘work’? How can the ethical formation of judgment be encouraged in schools, universities and society? What kinds of ethical questions are associated with ethical education?
Concept
If ethics is understood as an interdisciplinary and concrete, practice-oriented endeavor in the sciences and humanities, it is absolutely necessary that the department of ethics and education appropriately forms the communication processes associated with it in schools, universities and society. However, ethical education itself raises a number of ethical questions: How can a profile of ethical education be justified as such? Which social authority should be granted to ethical experts and laymen? How important are educational processes in a digitalized world?
Development
As a result of the immediate success of the project “School Ethics and Technology” (SET), an expert committee of the University of Tübingen recommended to make the project permanent. In the year 2000, the department of ethics and education was established. With that, IZEW was the only ethics center in Germany to have institutionalized this department and now assumes a leading role in the didactics of applied ethics.
Basic Studies in Ethics and Philosophy
Along side the nationally funded Landesweites Wissenschaftliches Begleitprogramm zum Ethisch-Philosophischen Grundlagenstudium (EPG) (2001-2005) (nation-wide complimentary program to the Basic Studies in Ethics and Philosophy) and Ethisch-Philosophische Grundlagen im Vorbereitungsdienst (2001-2005) (the Basic Studies in Ethics and Philosophy during the practical period of teacher training), this department played an extremely important role in the conception and implementation of the Ethisch-Philosophischen Grundlagenstudiums (EPG) (Basic Studies in Ethics and Philosophy) into the teaching degree programs in Baden-Württemberg. The EPG coordination office of the University of Tübingen is also located in this department, which provides ideal conditions for an interdisciplinary, research-oriented teaching of ethics.
Current research and projects
The current projects focus on
- the development of ethical courses of study within B.A. and M.A. degree programs, in graduate education and social discourse,
- the conception and implementation of ethics as a key skill,
- the development of evaluation instruments and
- promoting interdisciplinary ethics in the sciences and humanities as a part of secondary education.
Thematic areas of research include:
- the theory of ethical argumentation and practical rationality (Dr. Julia Dietrich, Ilona Szlezák)
- ethical issues concerning the human body such as:
- the ethical issues in geriatric medicine (discourse: Biogerontology, Dr. Uta Mueller, Mone Spindler)
- ethical and philosophical issues in pain medicine (Dr. Julia Dietrich), and
- ethical issues concerning nutrition (Food Ethics, Lieske Voget-Kleschin, Dr. Julia Dietrich)
