WORKSHOP – Bioethics and Human Temporality. Perspectives from the Beginning, Middle and End of Life

Datum
27. Mai – 28. Mai 2019 

Date: 27–28.5.2019
Venue: Schlaues Haus Oldenburg

Orga­niz­ers:

Prof. Dr. Mark Schweda
(Uni­ver­si­ty of Old­en­burg, School of Med­i­cine and Health Sci­ences, Depart­ment of Health Ser­vices Research)

Dr. Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty
(Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­ter Göt­tin­gen, Dept. of Med­ical Ethics and His­to­ry of Medicine)

The role of tem­po­ral­i­ty in bioeth­i­cal debates has long been neglect­ed: What does it mean for bioeth­i­cal rea­son­ing that life is lived, expe­ri­enced, and under­stood as a process in time with fun­da­men­tal tem­po­ral char­ac­ter­is­tics such as direct­ed­ness, irre­versibil­i­ty, or final­i­ty? What does it mean that life is tra­di­tion­al­ly inter­pret­ed in terms of a par­tic­u­lar tem­po­ral struc­ture and exten­sion, includ­ing a sequence of phas­es or stages con­nect­ed to dif­fer­ent social roles, norms and expec­ta­tions? What does it mean that cer­tain med­ical inter­ven­tions and accom­pa­ny­ing moral ques­tions and con­flicts focus on par­tic­u­lar points in life?

The lack of reflec­tion on the rel­e­vance of human tem­po­ral­i­ty becomes par­tic­u­lar­ly salient in eth­i­cal dis­cus­sions at the begin­ning and end of life. Many bioeth­i­cal dis­cus­sions on the begin­ning of life rest on moral assump­tions about the devel­op­ment of humanex­is­tence over time. An exam­ple are the debates on pre­na­tal diag­no­sis and abor­tion and the under­ly­ing mod­els of phas­es of fetal devel­op­ment, or the bioeth­i­cal dis­cus­sions on informed con­sent and proxy deci­sion mak­ing in the treat­ment of neonates.Bioethical debates on repro­duc­tion also exem­pli­fy the impor­tance of tem­po­ral­i­ty. For exam­ple, the com­mon metaphor of the „bio­log­i­cal clock” encom­pass­es con­cerns about (repro­duc­tive) age­ing and the final­i­ty of women’s repro­duc­tion. Final­ly, med­ical inter­ven­tions in the fields of geri­atric med­i­cine and biogeron­tol­ogy pro­mote more ambi­tious stan­dards of health, fit­ness, and func­tion­al­i­ty for lat­er life and chal­lenge com­mon views of aging and the life course.

This inter­na­tion­al and inter­dis­ci­pli­nary work­shop is ded­i­cat­ed to the role and rel­e­vance of tem­po­ral­i­ty for eth­i­cal rea­son­ing in the field of bio­med­i­cine, health­care, and the life sci­ences at the begin­ning, mid­dle and end of life. It aims to devel­op a more con­crete, empir­i­cal­ly informed and cul­tur­al­ly sen­si­tive per­spec­tive on bioethics and human tem­po­ral­i­ty. Talks by Clau­dia Boz­zaro (Freiburg), Nol­wenn Büh­ler (Lausanne/Neuchâtel), Limor Meod­ed Danon (Jerusalem), Jozef Dorschei­dt (Gronin­gen), Nao­mi Ger­shoni (Beer-She­va), Solveig Lena Hansen (Göt­tin­gen), Julia Per­ry (Göt­tin­gen), Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty (Göt­tin­gen), Ari Schick (Jerusalem), Mark Schwe­da (Old­en­burg) & Karin Jongs­ma (Utrecht) (for pro­gram, see https://uol.de/medizinethik/workshop-bioethics-and-human-temporality/).

Due to lim­it­ed space, reg­is­tra­tion is required by May 1st, 2019. Please reg­is­ter via email: nitzan.rimon-zarfaty@medizin.uni-goettingen.de

–
ד„ר ניצן רימון-צרפתי

Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty, Ph.D
Phone: +49–1525-5800650
Marie Curie Post-Doc­tor­al Fellow
Depart­ment of Med­ical Ethics and His­to­ry of Medicine
Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­tre Gottingen
E‑mail address: rimonn@post.bgu.ac.il
nitzan.rimon-zarfaty@medizin.uni-goettingen.de

Date: 27–28.5.2019
Venue: Schlaues Haus Oldenburg

Orga­niz­ers:

Prof. Dr. Mark Schweda
(Uni­ver­si­ty of Old­en­burg, School of Med­i­cine and Health Sci­ences, Depart­ment of Health Ser­vices Research)

Dr. Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty
(Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­ter Göt­tin­gen, Dept. of Med­ical Ethics and His­to­ry of Medicine)

The role of tem­po­ral­i­ty in bioeth­i­cal debates has long been neglect­ed: What does it mean for bioeth­i­cal rea­son­ing that life is lived, expe­ri­enced, and under­stood as a process in time with fun­da­men­tal tem­po­ral char­ac­ter­is­tics such as direct­ed­ness, irre­versibil­i­ty, or final­i­ty? What does it mean that life is tra­di­tion­al­ly inter­pret­ed in terms of a par­tic­u­lar tem­po­ral struc­ture and exten­sion, includ­ing a sequence of phas­es or stages con­nect­ed to dif­fer­ent social roles, norms and expec­ta­tions? What does it mean that cer­tain med­ical inter­ven­tions and accom­pa­ny­ing moral ques­tions and con­flicts focus on par­tic­u­lar points in life?

The lack of reflec­tion on the rel­e­vance of human tem­po­ral­i­ty becomes par­tic­u­lar­ly salient in eth­i­cal dis­cus­sions at the begin­ning and end of life. Many bioeth­i­cal dis­cus­sions on the begin­ning of life rest on moral assump­tions about the devel­op­ment of humanex­is­tence over time. An exam­ple are the debates on pre­na­tal diag­no­sis and abor­tion and the under­ly­ing mod­els of phas­es of fetal devel­op­ment, or the bioeth­i­cal dis­cus­sions on informed con­sent and proxy deci­sion mak­ing in the treat­ment of neonates.Bioethical debates on repro­duc­tion also exem­pli­fy the impor­tance of tem­po­ral­i­ty. For exam­ple, the com­mon metaphor of the „bio­log­i­cal clock” encom­pass­es con­cerns about (repro­duc­tive) age­ing and the final­i­ty of women’s repro­duc­tion. Final­ly, med­ical inter­ven­tions in the fields of geri­atric med­i­cine and biogeron­tol­ogy pro­mote more ambi­tious stan­dards of health, fit­ness, and func­tion­al­i­ty for lat­er life and chal­lenge com­mon views of aging and the life course.

This inter­na­tion­al and inter­dis­ci­pli­nary work­shop is ded­i­cat­ed to the role and rel­e­vance of tem­po­ral­i­ty for eth­i­cal rea­son­ing in the field of bio­med­i­cine, health­care, and the life sci­ences at the begin­ning, mid­dle and end of life. It aims to devel­op a more con­crete, empir­i­cal­ly informed and cul­tur­al­ly sen­si­tive per­spec­tive on bioethics and human tem­po­ral­i­ty. Talks by Clau­dia Boz­zaro (Freiburg), Nol­wenn Büh­ler (Lausanne/Neuchâtel), Limor Meod­ed Danon (Jerusalem), Jozef Dorschei­dt (Gronin­gen), Nao­mi Ger­shoni (Beer-She­va), Solveig Lena Hansen (Göt­tin­gen), Julia Per­ry (Göt­tin­gen), Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty (Göt­tin­gen), Ari Schick (Jerusalem), Mark Schwe­da (Old­en­burg) & Karin Jongs­ma (Utrecht) (for pro­gram, see https://uol.de/medizinethik/workshop-bioethics-and-human-temporality/).

Due to lim­it­ed space, reg­is­tra­tion is required by May 1st, 2019. Please reg­is­ter via email: nitzan.rimon-zarfaty@medizin.uni-goettingen.de

–
ד„ר ניצן רימון-צרפתי

Nitzan Rimon-Zarfaty, Ph.D
Phone: +49–1525-5800650
Marie Curie Post-Doc­tor­al Fellow
Depart­ment of Med­ical Ethics and His­to­ry of Medicine
Uni­ver­si­ty Med­ical Cen­tre Gottingen
E‑mail address: rimonn@post.bgu.ac.il
nitzan.rimon-zarfaty@medizin.uni-goettingen.de