The boundaries between inanimate technology and the realm of the living become increasingly blurred. Deeper and deeper technological interventions into living organisms are possible, covering the entire spectrum of life from bacteria to humans. Simultaneously, digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI) enable increasingly autonomous technologies. Inanimate technologies such as robots begin to show characteristics of life. Contested issues pop up, such as the dignity of life, the enhancement of animals for human purposes, the creation of designer babies, and the granting of robot rights. The book addresses the understanding of the ongoing dissolution of the life/technology borders, the provision of ethical guidance for navigating research and innovation responsibly, and the philosophical reflection on the meaning of the current shifts. It offers three specific perspectives for understanding the challenges and providing orientation. First, the dissolution of the boundaries between technology and life is analyzed and reflected from both sides. Second, the search for orientation is not restricted to ethics but also involves philosophy of technology and of nature, as well as anthropology. Finally, instead of restricting the analysis to specific areas of life, e.g., bacteria or animals, the book presents a comprehensive look at the entire spectrum of living organisms—bacteria and viruses, plants, animals and humans—and robots as possible early forms of emerging technical life.

Technological advance affects almost all areas of human life. Rapid digitization, increased mobility, new biotechnologies, and nanotechnology deeply influence, amongst others, industrial production, entertainment, work, military affairs, and individual life. Besides overwhelmingly positive effects on wealth, comfort, innovation, and development, this also raises questions of unintended effects, of tensions with democracy, of the role of citizens, and of its sustainability facing environmental issues. Tools and procedures are needed to cope with this challenging situation. Technology assessment (TA) has been developed more than fifty years ago to enable science, the economy, and society to harvest the potential of new technology to the maximum extent possible and to deal responsibly with possible adverse effects. It was developed more than 50 years ago in the U.S. Congress and has diversified considerably in the meantime. Parliamentary TA in many European states and at the international level, participatory TA at the local and regional levels worldwide, and TA as part of engineering processes are the most relevant fields today. Technology assessment is a growing field of interdisciplinary research and scientific policy advice. This volume (a) gives an overview of motivations of TA, its history and its current practices, (b) develops a fresh theoretical perspective on TA rooted in social theory and philosophy, and (c) draws conclusions from the theoretical perspective for the further development of TA’s practices. It provides the first comprehensive view on the growing field of TA at the international level.

The book investigates the meaning of RRI if little or no valid knowledge about consequences of innovation and technology is available. It proposes a hermeneutical turn to investigate narratives about possible futures with respect to their contemporary meaning instead of regarding them as anticipations of the future.

This book comprehensively reviews the considerations of nanotechnology elaborated in philosophy, ethics, and the social sciences and systematizes and develops them further. It focuses on the issues of ethical responsibility regarding chances and risks of nanotechnology and its possible applications in the fields of synthetic nanoparticles, syntheti

The study tackles the subject in a new and unique way: Due to the fact that the borders between classical academic disciplines disappear at the nanoscale, a truly interdisciplinary approach is chosen. A functional definition of nanotechnology is developed by the authors as basis for the further sections of the study. The most important results enable recommendations with respect to scientific progress, industrial relevance, economic potential, educational needs, potential adverse health effects and philosophical aspects of nanotechnology. The book addresses the relevant decision levels, media, and academia.

Modern molecular technology in the so-called life sciences (biology as weil as medicine) allows today to approach and manipulate living beings in ways and to an extent wh ich not too long aga seemed Utopian. The empirical progress promises further and even more radical developments in the future, and it is at least often claimed that this kind of research will have tremendeous etfects on and for all of humanity, for example in the areas of food production, transplantation medicine (including stem cell research and xenotransplantation), (therapeutic) genetic manipulation and (cell-line) cloning (of cell lines or tissues), and of biodiversity conservation-strategies. At least in Western, industrialized countries the development of modern sciences led to a steady increase of human health, well-being and quality of life. However, with the move to make the human body itself an object of scientific research interests, the respective scientific descriptions resulted in changes in the image that human beings have of themselves. Scientific progress has led to a startling loss of traditional human self-understanding. This development is in contrast to an under standing according to which the question what it means to be "human" is treated in the realm of philosophy. And indeed, a closer look reveals that - without denying the value of scientitic progress - science cannot replace the philosophical approach to anthropological questions.

Diese Einführung in die Technikfolgenabschätzung (TA) nimmt die realen gesellschaftlichen Probleme mit Technik, Technikfolgen und Technisierung zum Ausgangspunkt. Der Autor stellt dar, welche Erwartungen an die TA bestehen und was sie tatsächlich leisten kann, er widmet sich den Einrichtungen und Konzeptionen der Forschung und Beratung, schildert das TA-Handwerk mit seinen Methoden, Verfahren und disziplinären Bezügen, reflektiert die Leistungen der TA anhand exemplarischer Praxisfelder und erörtert ihre Grenzen und Perspektiven einschließlich kritischer Positionen. Die erste Auflage aus dem Jahr 2002 wurde von der "Soziologischen Revue" als "sorgfältig konzipiertes und umfassendes Buch zur Einführung in die TA" gewürdigt, das "alle relevanten Themen der TA auf überaus abgewogene Weise" behandelt. Acht Jahre später legt Grunwald hier eine stark überarbeitete Neuauflage vor, die den dynamischen Entwicklungen im gesellschaftlichen Umfeld der TA und in ihren konzeptionell-theoretischen wie auch methodisch-praktischen Ansätzen Rechnung trägt. Der Band ist in weiten Teilen neu konzipiert und formuliert, zahlreiche Aspekte und Abschnitte wurden hinzugefügt, aktuelle Entwicklungen und Forschungsergebnisse ergänzt.

Nachhaltigkeit ist weltweit zu einem zentralen Leitbild in Politik, Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft geworden. Im Kern geht es um die Suche nach einem gerechten Zivilisations- und Wirtschaftsmodell, das der Verantwortung gegenüber allen heute und künftig lebenden Menschen gerecht wird. Armin Grunwald und Jürgen Kopfmüller geben einen umfassenden und systematischen Überblick über die Hintergründe des Leitbilds "Nachhaltigkeit" und über aktuelle Konzepte zu seiner Definition, Messung und Realisierung. Zusätzlich enthält die überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage gänzlich neue Ausführungen zur Wachstumsdebatte und Bevölkerungsentwicklung, zur Klimapolitik und zu einer Kultur der Nachhaltigkeit.