The Institute of Medical Ethics and Medical History of the University of Freiburg is hosting the 1st Freiburg Symposium on the topic "The End of Fate? The Human Condition Between the Facts of Life and Medical-Technological Design."
The conference will take place on 18 (10 a.m.) and 19 June 2010 (9 a.m.) in the Assembly Hall in KG I.
Fate - this is a word that seems increasingly out of place in the context of modern medicine. It just doesn't seem to fit in with the concept of a medical industry which has to compete for patients like a commercial enterprise. Rather, contemporary discourse on medicine implies and indeed promises that everything can be planned and controlled. This is already evident in how we talk about illness itself, which has lost the aura of fate in the same measure as the possibilities of genetic diagnostics have increased. We have come to understand illness more and more as the result of our own behavior, our own failure. Occasionally we are given the impression that it is in our own hands as to when or whether we will become sick. This paradigm shift extends even to the birth of a child, which we increasingly see not as a gift we should be thankful for but as a product which can be fabricated and controlled through medical technology.
The symposium would like to initiate a discussion, both within the scientific community and in the general public, on the notion that medicine is capable of planning, controlling, and shaping our entire lives. We believe that modern medicine has an obligation to think beyond its own boundaries and reach new insight on the fundamental intractability of life and the basic facts of the human condition.
The conference is free of charge. We ask for participants to register in advance. For more information on the program, please read the enclosure.
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