Hymenoplasty is a practice that must be judged from within its cultural confines and not only from outside. It offers women who have grown up within the sexual norms of a Western society the chance to return to their parental culture, with its female-specific virginity expectations. Hymenoplasty allows women to be sexually active prior to marriage, which equalizes the discrepancy between gender norms on premarital sexual experience. Caution is needed when comparing hymenoplasty to female genital mutilation. However, comparing hymenoplasty to (...) other cosmetic genital modification procedures raises unique ethical, social, and medical quandaries that highlight the importance of patient’s autonomy. (shrink)

In this paper I propose to examine the concept of discrimination from an ethical viewpoint. In a preliminary part, I will point out which aspects of the subject matter I will focus on and which I will leave aside (II). On the basis of the Aristotelian principle “treat like cases alike”, I will continue with a very formal definition, according to which discrimination can be understood as acting in a way that implies that like cases are not treated alike. This (...) leads to the difficult question of which cases are to be considered as “alike”, or which traits can serve as morally valid reasons for identifying cases as “unlike” (III). I will argue that this question cannot be answered independently from the specific circumstances and the normative premises referred to for describing these circumstances. My conclusion is that the concept of discrimination derives its “moral strength” solely from these normative premises. As a consequence, the use of the con- cept of discrimination can often be misleading since it falsely presupposes that there is agreement about the underlying normative premises (IV). Finally, I will illustrate the argumentation using “genetic discrimination” in connection with insurance contracts as an example (V). (shrink)

It is important to be able to offer an account of which activities count as scientific research, given our current interest in promoting research as a means to benefit humankind and in ethically regulating it. We attempt to offer such an account, arguing that we need to consider both the procedural and functional dimensions of an activity before we can establish whether it is a genuine instance of scientific research. By placing research in a broader schema of activities, the similarities (...) and differences between research activities and other activities become visible. It is also easier to show why some activities that do not count as research can sometimes be confused with research and why some other activities can be regarded only partially as research. Although the concept of research is important to delimit a class of activities which we might be morally obliged to promote, we observe that the class of activities which are regarded as subject to ethical regulation is not exhausted by research activities. We argue that, whether they be research or not, all the activities that are likely to affect the rights and interests of the individuals involved and impact on the rights and interests of other individuals raise ethical issues and might be in need of ethical regulation. (shrink)

abstract The so‐called Principlism of Beauchamp and Childress is one of the most prominent approaches in bioethics. It has, nevertheless, given rise to an ongoing debate on methodology in bioethics. At the bottom of this debate lies the question whether a multi‐principles approach or a single‐principle approach is more convincing in bioethics. In this paper I shall propose a ‘third way’ of bioethical reasoning that is committed neither to a multi‐principles nor to a single‐principle approach. In contrast, I will take (...) up the Kantian differentiation of formal and material principles. This differentiation permits combining the strengths of multi‐principles as well as of single‐principle approaches. (shrink)

This is the second paper in a three-part series on the state of the enhancement debate. We report current trends and give an overview of established positions in the field of neuroenhancement. Unlike a number of articles on the bioethics of enhancement, we try to highlight connections between the contemporary debate and established positions in philosophical ethics. This specific perspective inspired the breakdown of our three-part series into consequentialist, deontological and virtue-ethical arguments.

Hat Fichtes Geschichtskonstruktion in den »Grundzügen des gegenwärtigen Zeitalters« wissenschaftlich-philosophische Plausibilität und Kohärenz? Dies ist die Frage des ersten Hauptteils dieser Untersuchung. Dazu wird sich als notwendig erweisen, auf den kontroversen Zusammenhang von geschichtsphilosophischer und religionsphilosophischer Sichtweise, insbesondere auf Fichtes Deutung des Christentums, einzugehen. In einem dritten Teil soll wenigstens knapp auf die zeitdiagnostischen Aktualität dieser Geschichtskonstruktion gerade für unsere Gegenwart eingegangen werden. Da die Darlegungen in Teil I und II sich als unerwartet kontrovers herausstellten, wird trotz angezielter Knappheit erhöhter (...) Wert auf ausführliche Textbelege gelegt. (shrink)

Unter Off-Label-Use versteht man den zulassungsüberschreitenden Einsatz eines Arzneimittels außerhalb der von Zulassungsbehörden genehmigten Anwendungsgebiete. Er ist in der medizinischen Praxis weit verbreitet und fächerübergreifend zu beobachten. Der Beitrag gibt eine Einschätzung der Off-Label-Anwendung aus ethischer Sicht. Dazu wird die Off- Label-Anwendung zunächst von anderen, sachlich verwandten Anwendungsweisen abgegrenzt. Danach wird über die aktuelle Verbreitung des Off-Label- Use informiert. Sodann wird gezeigt, dass sich bekannte Problemlagen aus der Medizinethik bei der Off-Label-Anwendung in spezifischer Weise verschärfen. Schließlich wird diskutiert, wie eine (...) ethisch akzeptable Off-Label-Anwendung von Arzneimitteln ausgestaltet werden könnte und auf welchen Ebenen sie ansetzen müsste. (shrink)

As a negative protective right, freedom of science is – within the limits marked by other fundamental liberty rights – widely accepted. This also applies, pars pro toto, to the field of medical research. It is far less clear, however, whether a positive claim to medical research can be justified as well. Research of this kind could be articu- lated by potential beneficiaries of its applications as a welfare right. If one bases pub- lic obligations on the concept of fostering (...) individual liberties and, in addition, bears in mind the existential importance of effective therapies especially for severe dis- eases, the presumption of such a claim may not be unfounded. Yet, if such a claim can be justified its proper addressee still needs to be identified. Against the back- ground of frequent criticism directed against pharmaceutical companies, asserting that they disregard certain patient groups or types of diseases in their research activ- ities in a morally irresponsible way, the attempt to clarify this issue gains immediate practical relevance. (shrink)

The fission of ethics into two systematically distinct parts has its roots in the architectonics that Kant has developed in his moral philosophy. Despite noticeable differences between “Kant’s applied moral philosophy” (M. Gregor) and contemporary applied ethics this architectonics provides important insights which can contribute to a systematically rigorous and historically mindful self-assurance of con- temporary applied ethics.

The so-called Principlism of Beauchamp and Childress is one of the most prominent approaches in bioethics. It has, nevertheless, given rise to an ongoing debate on methodology in bioethics. At the bottom of this debate lies the question whether a multi-principles approach or a single-principle approach is more convincing in bioethics. In this paper I shall propose a 'third way' of bioethical reasoning that is committed neither to a multi-principles nor to a single-principle approach. In contrast, I will take up (...) the Kantian differentiation of formal and material principles. This differentiation permits combining the strengths of multi-principles as well as of single-principle approaches. (shrink)

Ausgehend von einer Analyse der zentral gewordenen Stellung der Technik in der Theorie der wissenschaftlich-technischen Revolution werden in dieser umfassenden Darstellung der DDR-Gesellschaftstheorie nach einem Vergleich mit anderen Industriegesellschaftstheorien die vier Hauptrichtungen des Technikverstandnisses der heute weitgehend professionell betriebenen DDR-Philosophie eruiert. Der Logik dieser Richtungen folgend, werden diese den sozialen Gruppen zugeordnet, deren Interessen sie involvieren.".

Introduction: Laughter as an expression of human nature in the Middle Ages and the early modern period: literary, historical, theological, philosophical, and psychological reflections -- Judith Hagen. Laughter in Procopius's wars -- Livnat Holtzman. "Does God really laugh?": appropriate and inappropriate descriptions of God in Islamic traditionalist theology -- Daniel F. Pigg. Laughter in Beowulf: ambiguity, ambivalence, and group identity formation -- Mark Burde. The parodia sacra problem and medieval comic studies -- Olga V. Trokhimenko. Women's laughter and gender politics (...) in medieval conduct discourse -- Madelon Köhler-Busch. Pushing decorum: uneasy laughter in Heinrich von Dem Türlîn's Diu crône -- Connie L. Scarborough. Laughter and the comic in a religious text -- John Sewell. The son rebelled and so the father made man alone: ridicule and boundary maintenance in The Nizzahon vetus -- Birgit Wiedl. Laughing at the beast: the judensau: anti-Jewish propaganda and humor from the Middle Ages to the early modern period -- Fabian Alfie. Yes . . . but was it funny? Cecco Angiolieri, Rustico Filippi and Giovanni Boccaccio -- Nicolino Applauso. Curses and laughter in medieval Italian comic poetry -- Feargal Béarra. Tromdhámh guaire: a context for laughter and audience in early modern Ireland -- Jean E. Jost. Humorous transgression in the non-conformist fabliaux: a Bakhtinian analysis of three comic tales -- Gretchen Mieszkowski. Chaucerian comedy: Troilus and Criseyde -- Sarah Gordon. Laughing and eating in the fabliaux -- Christine Bousquet-Labouérie. Laughter and medieval stalls -- Scott L. Taylor. Esoteric humor and the incommensurability of laughter -- Jean N. Goodrich. The function of laughter in The second shepherds' play -- Albrecht Classen. Laughing in late-medieval verse and prose narratives -- Rosa Alvarez perez. The workings of desire: Panurge and the dogs -- Elizabeth Chesney Zegura. Laughing out loud in the Heptaméron: a reassessment of Marguerite de Navarre's ambivalent humor -- Lia B. Ross. You had to be there: the elusive humor of the Sottie -- Kyle Diroberto. Sacred parody in Robert Greene's Groatsworth of wit -- Martha Moffitt Peacock. The comedy of the shrew: theorizing humor in early modern Netherlandish art -- Jessica Tvordi. The comic personas of Milton's Prolusion VI: negotiating masculine identity through self-directed humor -- John Alexander. Ridentum dicere verum (using laughter to speak the truth): laughter and the language of the early modern clown "pickelhering" in German literature of the late seventeenth century (1675-1700) -- Thomas Willard. Andreae's ludibrium: Menippean satire in The chymische hochzeit -- Diane Rudall. The comic power of illusion-allusion -- Allison P. Coudert. Laughing at credulity and superstition in the long eighteenth century. (shrink)

Will brain imaging technology soon enable neuroscientists to read minds? We cannot answer this question without some understanding of the state of the art in neuroimaging. But neither can we answer this question without some understanding of the concept invoked by the term “mind reading.” This article is an attempt to develop such understanding. Our analysis proceeds in two stages. In the first stage, we provide a categorical explication of mind reading. The categorical explication articulates empirical conditions that must be (...) satisfied if mind reading is to be achieved. In the second stage, we develop a metric for judging the proficiency of mind reading experiments. The conception of mind reading that emerges helps to reconcile folk psychological judgments about what mind reading must involve with the constraints imposed by empirical strategies for achieving it. (shrink)

Position papers on artificial intelligence (AI) ethics are often framed as attempts to work out technical and regulatory strategies for attaining what is commonly called trustworthy AI. In such papers, the technical and regulatory strategies are frequently analyzed in detail, but the concept of trustworthy AI is not. As a result, it remains unclear. This paper lays out a variety of possible interpretations of the concept and concludes that none of them is appropriate. The central problem is that, by framing (...) the ethics of AI in terms of trustworthiness, we reinforce unjustified anthropocentric assumptions that stand in the way of clear analysis. Furthermore, even if we insist on a purely epistemic interpretation of the concept, according to which trustworthiness just means measurable reliability, it turns out that the analysis will, nevertheless, suffer from a subtle form of anthropocentrism. The paper goes on to develop the concept of strange error, which serves both to sharpen the initial diagnosis of the inadequacy of trustworthy AI and to articulate the novel epistemological situation created by the use of AI. The paper concludes with a discussion of how strange error puts pressure on standard practices of assessing moral culpability, particularly in the context of medicine. (shrink)

Background: Informed consent is a legal as well as ethical prerequisite in clinical research. For dementia research, informed consent can be a problem if subjects with dementia, whose capacity for understanding and thus also decision making might be limited, are to be exam- ined. This might result in exclusion of dementia patients from research, as capacity for understanding and decision making are often equated with the ability for rational decision making. However, this valuation has been criticized at times for attaching (...) too much impor- tance to the cognitive aspect of decision making. -/- Methods: This qualitative study investigates the actual consent procedure of a clini- cal research study in Germany with regard to dementia patients’ subjective and objective understanding of informed consent information. Research participants were ten dementia patients, who volunteered in two clinical research studies, as well as their caregivers. Data were collected by use of semi-structured interviews. -/- Results: It was determined that the patients’ comprehension of informed consent infor- mation was rather limited. However, a number of patients were quite aware of this. In con- trast, all caregivers claimed to have fully understood the provided information, while their objective comprehension was also incomplete. Several participants indicated that they did not attach much importance to the information given in the consent procedure and that their consent did not primarily depend on this information. Rather, participation in the research study for them seemed to be more of a problem-focused coping strategy for dealing with their diagnosis of dementia. -/- Conclusion: For research ethics these results raise the question whether the currently prevailing emphasis on the cognitive aspect of autonomous decision making, i.e., compre- hension, may be too one-sided, and to what extent the “volitional” aspect in giving consent should be given greater consideration. (shrink)

Zu den Grenzfragen des Lebens. Bioethik als Feld intensiver Auseinandersetzung im fachwissenschaftlichen Diskurs und kontroverser Diskussionen in der breiten Öffentlichkeit. Das Handbuch erläutert die Grundlagen und gibt einen Überblick über Bereiche, in denen bioethische Fragen relevant sind, wie Menschenwürde, Leben, Tod und Krankheit. Daneben widmet es sich den speziellen bioethischen Problemen wie etwa Zulässigkeit von Sterbehilfe, Präimplantationsdiagnostik oder embryonaler Stammzellenforschung und zeigt die Schnittstellen der Bioethik zu anderen Disziplinen und gesellschaftlichen Bereichen auf (Bioethik in der Lehre, Biopolitik, Biorecht und Ethikkommissionen).

Das Wiskott-Aldrich-Syndrom (WAS), ein genetisch bedingter Immundefekt mit klinischer Manifestation im Kleinkindalter, wird voraussichtlich in näherer Zukunft erstmals versuchsweise durch eine somatische Gentherapie behandelt werden. Im vor- liegenden Beitrag werden die wichtigsten medizinisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Fakten dieses Krankheitsbildes sowie die bisherigen Erfahrungen mit somatischen Gentherapien bei anderen Immunmangelsyndromen ausführlich dargestellt. Sodann erfolgt eine ethische Analyse eines möglichen gentherapeutischen Eingriffs bei WAS-Patienten, bei der die spezifischen Aspekte des Wiskott-Aldrich-Syndroms – insbesondere die fast ausschließliche Betroffenheit von Kindern sowie die unterschiedlich aussichtsreiche Alter- nativoption einer (...) allogenen Knochenmarktransplantation–wesentliche Aspekte der Beurteilung sind. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass ein gentherapeutischer Eingriff im vorliegenden Fall nicht im Rahmen einer Forschungsstudie, d.h. als Humanexperiment, gerechtfertigt werden kann, sondern allein als individueller Heilversuch. Gleichwohl las- sen die besonderen Risiken und die Innovativität eines solchen Eingriffs es notwendig erscheinen, diesen Heilversuch – anders als andere Heilbehandlungen mit bislang unerprobten Mitteln – in streng kontrollierter Form durchzuführen. Der neuartige Gedanke eines kontrollierten individuellen Heilversuchs zeichnet sich daher für den vorliegenden Fall, und womöglich auch für vergleichbare risikoreiche Behandlungsansätze namentlich im Bereich der Gentherapie, als geeignetes Instrument der Konzeption und Beurteilung ab. (shrink)

A series of dialogues with the most exciting and controversial German philosopher writing today. Peter Sloterdijk first became known in this country for his late 1980s Critique of Cynical Reason, which confronted headlong the “enlightened false consciousness” of Habermasian critical theory. Two decades later, after spending seven years in India studying Eastern philosophy, he is now attracting renewed interest for his writings on politics and globalization and for his magnum opus Spheres, a three-volume archaeology of the human attempt to dwell (...) within spaces, from womb to globe: Bubbles, 1998; Globes, 1999; Foam, 2004, all forthcoming from Semiotext. In Neither Sun nor Death, Sloterdijk answers questions posed by German writer Hans-Jürgen Heinrichs, commenting on such issues as technological mutation, development media, communication technologies, and his own intellectual itinerary. Iconoclastic and provocative, alternatively sparkling and bombastic, a child of '68 and a libertarian, Sloterdijk is the most exciting and controversial German philosopher to appear on the world scene since Nietzsche and Heidegger. Like Nietzsche, Sloterdijk remains convinced that contemporary philosophers have to think dangerously and let themselves be “kidnapped” by contemporary “hypercomplexities”; they must forsake our present humanist and nationalist world for a wider horizon at once ecological and global. Neither Sun nor Death is the best introduction available to Sloterdijk's philosophical theory of globalization. It reveals a philosophe extraordinaire, encyclopedic and provocative, as much at ease with current French Theory as with Heidegger and Indian mystic Osho Rajneesh. (shrink)

Research with psychiatric patients raises frequently discussed, ethical questions, one of which is: Can psychiatric patients give consent to participation in research at all? To answer this and similar questions adequately, it is - according to our thesis - necessary to analyze first, which theoretical assumptions are made in established practice. -/- To solve the question after the possibility of consent, compatible understandings of ‘disease’, ‘illness’ and ‘autonomy’ are crucial, but there is no consensual use of these terms in philosophy. (...) Therefore we first are going to explain different concepts of ‘autonomy’ and ‘disease’. Subsequent to this we will test how the different conceptualizations of ‘autonomy’ and ‘disease’ can be related to each other and how the reasonable combinations shape possible answers to the opening question. It will become apparent that an adequate analysis of ‘autonomy’ and ‘disease’ raises ethical dilemma in psychiatry, for which we shall suggest possible solutions. (shrink)

Enhancement, the improvement of mental capacities with psychoactive substances and technologies has stimulated one of the largest debates in contemporary bioethics. Surprisingly few participants in this debate take note of the tendentious legal status of psychoactive pharmaceuticals as the primary means of enhancement. -/- Enhancement technologies and substances have measurable effects on specific measurable cognitive functions. A major issue of contention in the debate is how to evaluate these effects, i. e. which theory of value to use. It is contested (...) whether the pleasures and achievements resulting from the use of enhancement can be counted as such or can be ignored or devaluate by calling them fraudulent or inauthentic. -/- The alleged and real benefits of enhancement are not expected to be evenly distributed, nor is it always clear whether enhancement is a zero-sum game or has benefits even for the non-users. This results in a complex structure of risks and benefits for individuals and groups, which needs to be broken down in detail. (shrink)

This cumulative course on Johannes Heinrichs' philosophical works presents the essence of his previous publications: A rich, consistent, and novel monolithic system defying temptations by the zeitgeist. Starting with an emphasis on reflection as the basis of epistemology, Heinrichs also covers the mind-body dualism in an anthropology chapter, moves on to presenting summaries of his 'Theory of Democracy' as well as of his 'Philosophical Semiotics', followed by an outline of structural and integral ontology. An overview of ethical positions (...) in the final chapter proves the fertility of Heinrichs? theoretical-reflection methods. (shrink)

In diesem Gesamtkurs seiner Philosophie bringt Johannes Heinrichs die Essenz seiner bisherigen Bücher auf den Punkt - eine konsequente, reichhaltige und neuartige Systematik aus einem Guss, die vielen derzeitigen Moden trotzt. Im erkenntnistheoretischen Einführungskapitel wird Reflexion (Selbstbezüglichkeit) als die Denkform thematisiert, die sich selbst als gelebte Reflexion zum Inhalt hat. Ein anthropologisches Kapitel führt die von der abendländischen Philosophie ignorierte und der Esoterik überlassene Körper-Seele-Geist-Einheit methodisch aus. Im dritten Kapitel wird die Reflexion als soziales System thematisiert: eine Kurzfassung der (...) bekannten Sozial-und Demokratietheorie des Autors. Es folgen die Kapitel zu Handlung - Sprache - Kunst und Mystik. Nach der Grundhypothese der von Heinrichs begründeten philosophischen Semiotik (Sinnprozesslehre) bauen sie reflexionsgestuft aufeinander auf. Während etwa das Sprachkapitel sein ganzes fünfbändiges Werk authentisch zusammenfasst, bietet das Mystikkapitel erstmals eine kurzgefasste Religionsphilosophie, der ein Umriss strukturaler und integraler Ontologie folgt. Vollends beweist ein Überblick über die ethischen Positionen die Fruchtbarkeit der reflexionstheoretischen Methodik. (shrink)

Brain age prediction is a relatively new tool in neuro-medicine and the neurosciences. In research and clinical practice, it finds multiple use as a marker for biological age, for general health status of the brain and as an indicator for several brain-based disorders. Its utility in all these tasks depends on detecting outliers and thus failing to correctly predict chronological age. The indicative value of brain age prediction is generated by the gap between a brain’s chronological age and the predicted (...) age, the brain age gap (BAG). This article shows how the clinical and research use of brain age prediction tacitly pathologizes the states that it is sensitive to. It will be argued that the tacit character of this transformation conceals the need for its explicit justification. (shrink)

Scientific policy advice is usually perceived as a formalized advisory process within political institutions. Politics has benefited from this arrangement because the science-based rationalization of policy has contributed to its legitimacy. However, in Western democratic societies, scientific expertise that is routinely mobilized to legitimate political positions has increasingly lost its power due to controversial expertise in the public sphere in particular within the mass media. As a consequence of the medialization of science, political decision makers are increasingly confronted with mass-mediated (...) expertise. Empirical results of a qualitative survey among decision makers in the German political and administrative system, presented in this article, support the hypothesis that mass-mediated expertise has a significant impact on policy processes. Five functions of media coverage on science-based issues for policy making were identified. Mass-mediated expertise has therefore altered the established relations between scientific policy advisors and political decision makers and can be seen as informal policy advice complementing institutionalized advisory arrangements. (shrink)

Die Frage nach der Gerechtigkeit im Gesundheitswesen wird aus der Perspektive einer allgemeinen Theorie der Gerechtigkeit betrachtet. Diese Theorie ist ein Befähigungsansatz, der zwischen 1) der Grundversorgung aller Bürger mit Grundbefähigungen, 2) einem gerechten Anteil an den Früchten gesellschaftlicher Kooperation und 3) individuell erstrebten Gütern und Leistungen differenziert. Die Anwendung dieser Theorie reagiert auf charakteristische Probleme der Allokation im Gesundheitssektor: den prinzipiell ungedeckten Bedarf, die mangelnde Zurechenbarkeit des Bedarfes und die asymmetrische Informationsstruktur zwischen Patienten und Leistungserbringern.

In this thought-provoking article, a number of very valid and serious ethical concerns are raised about the potential application of research in neuro-circuitry to future treatment devices in clinical psychiatry. Rainey elaborates the basis for his concerns within the framework of a hypothetico-deductive notion of science,, and in his characterization.) From this perspective, the critical source of problems derives from an interposed step C in which “techniques are applied to extract relevant signals from the complicated raw signal.” The resulting characteristics (...) of brain recordings can be taken to be “deduced by algorithms, though they are themselves inductive engines through and through”... (shrink)

Hat Fichtes Geschichtskonstruktion in den »Grundzügen des gegenwärtigen Zeitalters« wissenschaftlich-philosophische Plausibilität und Kohärenz? Dies ist die Frage des ersten Hauptteils dieser Untersuchung. Dazu wird sich als notwendig erweisen, auf den kontroversen Zusammenhang von geschichtsphilosophischer und religionsphilosophischer Sichtweise, insbesondere auf Fichtes Deutung des Christentums, einzugehen. In einem dritten Teil soll wenigstens knapp auf die zeitdiagnostischen Aktualität dieser Geschichtskonstruktion gerade für unsere Gegenwart eingegangen werden. Da die Darlegungen in Teil I und II sich als unerwartet kontrovers herausstellten, wird trotz angezielter Knappheit erhöhter (...) Wert auf ausführliche Textbelege gelegt. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Jahrbuch für Wissenschaft und Ethik Jahrgang: 21 Heft: 1 Seiten: 69-98.

Emanuel Swedenborg, wer kennt ihn heute noch? Wer weiss, dass dieser schwedische Polyhistor tiefe Spuren im europäischen Geistesleben hinterlassen hat? Im Verlauf des Buches soll erklärt werden, wie deutsche Philosophen, Theologen und Literaten den Schweden rezipiert haben. Dabei wird aber auch die Frage gestellt, ob man wirklich Swedenborg als den originellen Theosophen ansehen kann, wenn man seine Lehre im Zusammenhang mit der europäischen Philosophie und Theologie sieht. Denn allein von daher kann und muss die Frage beantwortet werden, ob man im (...) Endeffekt de facto von einer Rezeption sprechen kann. (shrink)

Definition of the problem Case studies, both with a view to didactical and argumentative purposes, are widely used in applied ethics. However, case studies are often used without methodological considerations concerning the premises and limi- tations of these kind of studies as methodologi- cal tools within ethics. Conclusion The present paper critically examines the recourse to – real or fictitious – case studies. Important suggesti- ons will be taken from Kant’s philosophy. Kant himself occasionally uses case studies in his ethical (...) writings. Yet, he also discusses the relevance as well as the limitations of case studies in ethics. Arguments Against the background of this analysis, the opinion that ethics can be taught or developed in concreto, or that ethics might eventually be resolved into compilations of case studies must be rejected. (shrink)