Spring semester 2022
The course deals with impact of the Holocaust on discourse of bioethics in Israel, the U.S. and Germany from the end of WWII until the present. It explores the questions how and to what extent Nazi medical crimes (euthanasia, human medical experiments, involvement of German doctors in the murder of handicaps, mentally ill, Jews and concentration camps prisoners) has influenced medical practice.
The course aims to critically explore the development of bioethics and the shadow of the Holocaust Israel, Germany and the U.S. constructing a triangle of the representative of the victims, the perpetrators and the victorious with the emphasize on beginning and end life, fertilization technologies and informed consent.
Bioethics in its current form has emerged only after World War II. The influence of the Holocaust played a direct role in its development especially with the Nuremburg doctors’ trials and the creation of the “Nuremberg Code”, which was written by American doctors and jurists in an effort to avoid the recurrence of such medical atrocities and to clearly differentiate between the crimes committed by Nazi doctors and ordinary medical research. A common claim is that the Holocaust had a deep influence on the birth of bioethics, and the Nuremberg code, being a watershed moment in its history. In contrast, some scholars contend that the Nuremberg trials and the Nuremberg Code had a rather limited influence on the development of bioethics.
Anthropology as a scientific discipline is a brainchild of European Enlightenment and has formed the modern view of human beings in an often very problematic way. In this seminar we will discuss the most important anthropological theories and practices in historical context.
The objective of this seminar is (1) to give a critical introduction into the history of anthropology since the 18th century and (2) to facilitate a discussion on how we can cope today with this tradition in a responsible way.
One of the most important slogans of the Enlightenment was that the true object of the study of mankind was man himself. To underline this claim, an independent science of man was even founded, anthropology. This science has repeatedly fallen into disrepute for conveying a false image of man, because since the 18th century it generated racist ideas about the nature of man, often in connection with colonialist claims and the legitimization of slavery. Today, we are confronted with the material legacy of this anthropology, stored in museums and universities in the form of bones, skulls, anatomical specimens, photographs, and cultural artifacts - and not infrequently subject to claims for restitution from the states concerned. The seminar will focus on learning about the history of anthropology and stimulating a discussion on how we can responsibly deal with this tradition today.
Health and disease belong to the fundamental conditions of human life. Thus, human beings have conceived different ideas and theories concerning health and disease in history. It is the aim of this lecture series to introduce this historical variety in transcultural perspective from antiquity to the present.
It is the aim of this lecture series to introduce this historical variety in transcultural perspective from antiquity to the present.
Climate crisis, species extinction and pandemics have made the study of "environment" one of the most important topics in contemporary science. But when did the scientific study of the environment begin, and how did social changes and political upheavals in the 19th and 20th centuries alter the concept of the environment and ecology?
In the lecture, students become acquainted with the fundamental trajectories of the development in the modern environmental sciences. Through brief and joint analysis of selected source material, the knowledge they gain is applied to concrete topics and critically evaluated.
The lecture focuses on the development of interdisciplinary "environmental sciences" in the 19th and 20th centuries as well as the emergence of an environmental consciousness in related fields such as architecture and the humanities. Emphasis will be placed on the transformation of ancient natural history into a modern ecology, the role of (geo)political factors such as colonialism and the Cold War, the influence of infrastructures on modern environmental sciences, and the importance of social movements and popular science initiatives.