Univ.- Prof. Dr. Thomas Potthast
Since 1996, the Department of Biology has had its own chair, which is the only permanent place in Germany for philosophical-interdisciplinary research and teaching in the field of Ethics, Theory and History of the Life Sciences.
Ethical questions emerge with regard to new discoveries and technologies in numerous fields such as genetics and molecular biology, the neurosciences, or ecology and nature preservation.
Embedded in the Philosophy and History of Science, applied Ethics deals with the above-mentioned topics in an interdisciplinary perspective. Overall, research and teaching should contribute to reflecting on the fund of knowledge and implications of bioscientific research and to integrating it into a holistic conception of man. Further perspectives are also opened up with reference to the challenges of sustainable development.
A close cooperation of the chair exists with the university-wide International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW): https://www.uni-tuebingen.de/de/8682
Thomas Potthast is heading the Ethics Center since 2014 (2014-2023 together with Regina Ammicht Quinn). He also heads the "Nature and Sustainable Development" research group there, with numerous inter- and transdisciplinary research and teaching activities: https://uni-tuebingen.de/de/21553
