Zusammenfassung„Frailty“ ist ein noch junges Konzept in der Geriatrie. Hilfsbedürftigkeit und Verletzbarkeit verweisen letztlich auf anthropologische Grundtatbestände. „Gebrechlichkeit“ ist freilich keine Krankheit und keine unausweichliche Begleiterscheinung des Alters, sondern das Resultat unterschiedlicher Faktoren, die letztlich in einem sozialen Kontext begriffen werden müssen. Das führt zu einer Reihe von individual-, personalund sozialethischen Fragen. Trotz definitorischer Schwierigkeiten ist Frailty ein sinnvolles geriatrisches Konzept, weil es eine ganzheitliche Sichtweise von Multimorbidität und ihren Auswirkungen auf die individuellen Lebensumstände sowie die subjektiv empfundene Lebensqualität alter (...) Menschen fördert. Die Diskussion über Phänomen und Ursachen von Gebrechlichkeit im Alter kann außerdem zu einer kritischen Auseinandersetzung mit modischen Spielarten von Anti- Ageing-Medizin und der latenten Diskriminierung alter Menschen beitragen. (shrink)

Dr. theol. Ulrich H.J. Körtner ist Professor für Systematische Theologie an der Evangelisch-Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Wien.

Over past decades a concept of ecological ethics has taken root, which is often equated with environmental ethics. Church and theology have also responded to the environmental crisis. In the last third of the past century an intense discourse about the concerns and extent of a so-called creation ethics was conducted. In connection with the question of a creation ethics, and the global responsibility of humans for the biosphere of our planet, the topic of creation has also gained new attention (...) in dogmatics. In this way, ecology has also become a topic of systematic theology. The article focuses on the debate in the German speaking context. Occasionally, a quasi-religious elevation of ecology to the status of a doctrine of salvation is observable. Because theology always also has a function of critique of religion, it must also critically engage the sometimes open and sometimes hidden religious contents and claims of eco-ethical concepts. For this purpose, the first step of the present contribution is to more precisely determine the concepts of creation and nature. Thereafter, the problem of anthropocentrism is analysed. In a further step, the concept of sustainability is analysed. In conclusion, the main features of a responsibility-ethics model of ecological ethics are outlined. (shrink)

(2001). The Challenge of Genetic Engineering to Medical Anthropology and Ethics. Human Reproduction & Genetic Ethics: Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 21-25.

Das Phänomen des Ethischen ist dem Konflikt der Interpretationen ausgesetzt. Er äußert sich nicht nur in ethischen Kontroversen, sondern auch als Konflikt ethischer Grundkonzeptionen und Menschenbilder. Verstärkt wird in jüngster Zeit über das spezifische Profil evangelischer Ethik und Urteilsbildung nachgedacht. Die Beiträge dieses Buches konfrontieren entsprechende Bemühungen mit der provokanten These R. Bultmanns, es gebe gar keine christliche Ethik, sofern darunter einer Theorie über das verstanden werde, was Christen zu tun und zu lassen haben.

ZusammenfassungIm Unterschied zum Christentum haben andere Religionen keine der christlichen vergleichbare Theologie entwickelt. Diese ist keine zufällige historische Erscheinung, sondern hat ihren Grund im Wesen des christlichen Glaubens. Bei der Frage, auf die die Theologie die Antwort ist, handelt es sich um das Problem der Hermeneutik bzw. das Verhältnis von Glaube und Verstehen im Christentum. Genauer gesagt geht es um die Geschichtlichkeit des Glaubens wie des Verstehens. Theologische Hermeneutik hat insbesondere das Verhältnis von Glaube und Skepsis zu bestimmen. Sie kann (...) dabei nicht von der Fraglosigkeit der Gottesfrage ausgehen. Vielmehr besteht zwischen der Skepsis moderner Hermeneutik und der Skepsis des Glaubens eine innere Verwandtschaft, insofern sich die Theologie in reformatorischer Tradition kritisch gegenüber den metaphysischen Absolutheitsprädikaten des Einen, Guten, Wahren und Schönen, aber auch gegenüber ihren geschichtsphilosophischen und ethischen Transformationen in der Moderne verhält.SummaryIn contrast to Christianity, other religions have not developed a theology comparable to Christian theology. This is not a mere accident of history since in Christianity theology has its foundation in the character of Christian faith. The question to which theology is the answer is the problem of hermeneutics, or rather, the relationship between faith and understanding in Christianity, more precisely, the historicity of both believing and understanding. One of the foremost tasks of theological hermeneutics is to reflect on the relationship between faith and scepticism. It cannot proceed from the question of God as an unquestionable basis. Rather, it seems that there is an intrinsic relationship between the scepticism of modern hermeneutics and the scepticism of faith, insofar as theology in the tradition of the Reformation maintains a critical attitude towards the metaphysical claims of unity, goodness, truth and beauty as well as their modern transformations in the philosophy of history and in ethics. (shrink)

The article provides an overview of important topics in contemporary medical ethics. Methodologically, it is a literature review. The article addresses only a limited selection of the problematic areas, which are, however, related to each other: digitisation of medicine, genome editing, personalised medicine as well as ethical problems and dilemmas of allocation in healthcare. The global COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a focus and trigger. Reflections on human rights and justice in medicine are fundamental not only on the individual and (...) social level but also on a global scale. The fundamental question is how society as a whole can be involved in the complex biopolitical and bioethical debate. The social and cultural consequences of life increasingly being understood as a technical product rather than a gift are serious.Contribution: The article also reflects on the specific contribution that Christian theology, and in particular the reformed heritage, can make to bioethical debates in modern society. The distinction between instrumental knowledge [Verfügungswissen] and orientational knowledge [Orientierungswissen] is helpful for its better understanding. A crucial result of this article is that medical treatment is repeatedly faced with ethical dilemmas. Moreover, medical progress not only creates new and better solutions to medical problems, it also raises new ethical questions that did not exist before. The purpose of medical ethics lies in identifying such dilemmas and developing ethical decision-making processes that help us to deal with such dilemmas to some extent. (shrink)

For the political, the theological and church discussion about reproductive medicine and genetics in Germany it might be helpful to take a Iook on the situation in other European countries. The above article informs about the discussion in Austria, which has a law of reproductive medicine since 1992. The focus of analysis lies on the legal and moral status of the embryo. It is questionable to argue that an embryo is a person. Concerning the protection of the embryo there are (...) general philosophical reasons but also reasons of theological anthropology which lead to a position of tutiorism. In general a strict protection of the embryo must be granted, but under certain circumstances there are valid reasons for a balance of ethical goods. Detailed questions which are discussed are new indications for in-vitro-fertilization and the ethical issues of preimplantation diagnosis, of research on embryonie stem cells and of therapeutic cloning. (shrink)

This article deals with theological criterions of medical ethics which depends on biblical anthropology and Christian doctrine for the Creation. It criticizes the assertion that life is not disposible as an example of wrong deduction from is to ought. The article also deals with the concept of person and the moral status of embryos and discusses the consequences for medical genetics and prenatal diagnostics.