Prof. Dr. Thorsten Moos

• Bioethics and medical ethics: basic concepts and questions of application
• Anthropology and ethics, including the concept of illness
• Systematic theology in the context of empirical sciences (natural sciences and cultural studies)
• Fundamental ethical questions of ecclesiastical and diaconal action
• Political ethics from a historical and systematic theological perspective
• Theology and law, in particular canon law

You can download a complete list of publications as a PDF file:

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Ethics of Synthetic Biology

'Synthetic' cells, biohybrid systems, ‘synthetic’ embryo models, and other current developments pose significant ethical challenges, which are addressed in the project. It is based at the Max Planck School “Matter to Life” (link: https://mattertolife.maxplanckschools.org/faculty) and, in addition to research, includes regular teaching in ethics for the school's international students.

Digital Animism

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly established, IT systems are taking on a more human-like form in many areas. They seem to be taking over tasks that were previously reserved for humans: communicating, assisting, advising, making decisions, and putting decisions into action. The TRN (Thematic Research Network) analyzes the change in human-technology interactions through the attribution of subjectivity to IT systems, particularly in the medical and nursing fields.

Academic freedom in polarized societies

The TRN (Thematic Research Network) examines the discursive construction of academic freedom in polarized societies by comparing Germany and the USA. The aim is to analyze social, normative, and linguistic mechanisms that shape negotiations and threats to academic autonomy at the societal level.

Practice Theory and Ethics

When ethics is conceived not in terms of actions but in terms of social practices, the focus shifts and new phenomena and ethical questions come into view. A monograph on ethics based on practical theory is in preparation. In particular, practices of subjectification and responsabilization, moralization and demoralization, as well as appreciation and degradation are examined. 

Public Health Ethics

This project focuses on developing a theological ethical approach to issues of public health ethics at the intersection of medical ethics, political ethics, social ethics, and professional ethics.

Loyality

Commitment expectations, self-commitments, and distancing: Discourses and practices of employee retention in diaconal organizations, both past and present, as well as in ecclesiastical and secular law are analyzed.

Loci diaconici

Topics of religious discourse in social welfare work are examined: empirical analysis and systematic theological reconstruction.

Religion in new urban districts

Empirical description and analysis of the emergence of religious landscapes in new urban development and conversion areas, and development of recommendations for action for church actors.

Aging as self-realization

Freedoms and constraints in later life at the intersection of neuroscience, healthcare, education, and aging discourse (DFG network): Interdisciplinary network on changes in the “task of aging” and the ideal of self-realization in old age as one of the guiding principles of individual lifestyles in Western societies.

Diaconal culture

Concept, research perspectives, practice: interdisciplinary working group on the differentiated perception of the role of religion in organized aid (cultural studies, economics, social sciences, theology, and other disciplines)

Hospital chaplaincy and ethics

Interdisciplinary study on how hospital chaplains deal with medical ethics and development of a teaching unit for chaplaincy training, continuing education, and further training.

The limits of free will

Decision-making and consent in borderline medical situations: anthropology, psychology, law, and ethics. Research project on dealing with human free will in borderline situations and on ethical problems involved in determining a patient's wishes.