Institute of Theology and Ethics

Perceptions of reality and truth that once had been taken for granted have more and more come into question in the secular modern age. This also affects ethics as a normative discipline. It now faces differentiated rationalities of life and complex interconnections of reality, and is increasingly unable to base its assessments and orientations on the unambiguity and universality of traditional moral principles. At the same time, ethics faces new challenges: Pluralization, technical and scientific progress and globalization lead to unsettling dynamic effects and openings. Therefore, more than ever, ethics is expected to provide orientation and clarity – as context-sensitive and specific as possible.

Ethics responds to these issues as applied ethics. It comprises specific subdisciplines such as political ethics, economic ethics, bioethics, environmental ethics or technology ethics, and develops solution-oriented normative heuristics adapted to case-by-case requirements. In doing so, applied ethics draws on classical theories and tests their coherence and practicability under the conditions of late modernity. Here, the Institute of Theology and Ethics makes its contribution by introducing suggestions especially in the discourses of peace ethics, military ethics, and media ethics from a theological, philosophical, and social-scientific perspective. You can find the research foci of the members of the institute on the pages of the two chairs.