• Katharina Mader, M.A.

1999 Spring Conference:
15.–18.3.1999, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler

Since the industrial revolution our understanding of humankind has fundamentally changed. Towards the end of the millennium, the task of explaining human nature has shifted from philosophy and the arts to the sciences. As far as the public is concerned, biology and medicine especially possess almost unlimited access to “objective facts” about human evolution, history, and existence. It was the central goal of this symposium to examine such claims. The most recent approaches from biology and medicine, together with their ethical basis, were discussed and reflected upon. There were five topical sections: 1. Perspectives of Anthropology, 2. Human Genetics, 3. Genes, Evolution, and Human Nature, 4. Perception, Cognition, and Spirit, 5. Technisation of Humans as a Cultural and Ethical Problem.

Speakers:
Ad Aertzen (Freiburg), Olaf Breidbach (Jena), Thomas Cremer (Munich), Hans-Rainer Duncker (Giessen), Scott F. Gilbert (Swarthmore, PA, USA), Brian Goodwin (London, UK), Paul Griffiths (Sydney, Australia), Mathias Gutmann (Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler), Henk ten Have (Nijmegen, The Netherlands), Ludger Honnefelder (Bonn), Peter Janich (Marburg), Helga Kuhse (Clayton, Victoria, Australia), Rolf Loether (Berlin), Alexandre Mauron (Geneve, Switzerland), Renato Mazzolini (Trento, Italy), Eva M. Neumann-Held (Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler), Geoff Parker (Liverpool, UK), Susan Oyama (New York, NY, USA), Oswald Schwemmer (Berlin), Christoph Rehmann-Sutter (Basel, Switzerland), Michael Weingarten (Marburg), Ulrich Wolf (Freiburg).