The particular situation of children in hospitals is discussed on the basis of a principle of equality which is founded on both childrens' rights and theology. It is just because of these equal rights of children that special medical care is required which does justice to the characteristics and the stage of development of children. Medical care like that does not at all have tobe a general obstacle to considerations of economic efficiency. The particular dependence of children on stable social (...) surroundings implies a priority of outpatient and home treatment as weil as the integration of parents and other important persans to whom the child relates closely when it comes to an inevitable admission in a hospital. A model of medical ethics based on »informed consent« needs particular aspects concerning the interests of children in hospitalssuch as child-orientated information and the graduated legal obligatory nature of the child 's will. (shrink)

C. F. Gellert's 1748 novel "Leben der schwedischen Gräfin von G***" portrays the moral actions of Jews as a result of good Christian conduct. In reaction, G. E. Lessing disputes this depiction in his one-act-play "Die Juden" from 1749. The recognition that a Jew could fulfill the ideals of the Enlightenment helped overcome the prejudices of Christian stage characters and of the audience, but it failed in the social circumstances of the time. Christian reception understood a "noble Jew" to be (...) a violation of the poetic principle of probability - and even for Lessing such a figure was the exception. Moses Mendelssohn, however, believed that Judaism was especially well-suited for fostering the development of certain virtues. In light of far-reaching interreligious concepts on the one hand and religiously motivated conflicts on the other, Lessing's early works reveal today the persistent value of self-critical examination concerning hidden prejudices towards religious and cultural minorities. (shrink)