•  3
    Climate Change and the Ethics of Agriculture
    In Pellegrino Gianfranco & Marcello Di Paola (eds.), Handbook of Philosophy of Climate Change, Springer Nature. pp. 871-883. 2023.
    Agriculture is one of the dimensions where climate change is having its most devastating effects. As the impact of climate change affects disproportionally those who have contributed the least to it, i.e., the smallholder farmers in the Global South, and who at the same time are the ones with the least disposable income to adapt to these changes, it leads to a major challenge for global justice. This chapter introduces different forms of inequality that are aggravated by climate change, discusse…Read more
  •  143
    Levels of explicability for medical artificial intelligence: What do we normatively need and what can we technically reach?
    with Frank Ursin, Felix Lindner, Timo Ropinski, and Sabine Salloch
    Ethik in der Medizin 35 (2): 173-199. 2023.
    Definition of the problem The umbrella term “explicability” refers to the reduction of opacity of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. These efforts are challenging for medical AI applications because higher accuracy often comes at the cost of increased opacity. This entails ethical tensions because physicians and patients desire to trace how results are produced without compromising the performance of AI systems. The centrality of explicability within the informed consent process for medical A…Read more
  •  217
    Reframing data ethics in research methods education: a pathway to critical data literacy
    with Javiera Atenas and Leo Havemann
    International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 20 11. 2023.
    This paper presents an ethical framework designed to support the development of critical data literacy for research methods courses and data training programmes in higher education. The framework we present draws upon our reviews of literature, course syllabi and existing frameworks on data ethics. For this research we reviewed 250 research methods syllabi from across the disciplines, as well as 80 syllabi from data science programmes to understand how or if data ethics was taught. We also revie…Read more
  •  173
    Time-tested commons characterize by having instituted sanctioning mechanisms that are sensitive to the circumstances and motivations of non-compliers. As a proposed Global Antimicrobial Commons cannot cost-effectively develop sanctioning mechanisms that are consistently sensitive to the circumstances of the global poor, I suggest concentrating on establishing a wider set of incentives that encourages both compliance and participation.
  •  132
    Voluntariness or legal obligation? An ethical analysis of two instruments for fairer global access to COVID-19 vaccines
    with Katja Voit, Marcin Orzechowski, and Florian Steger
    Frontiers in Public Health 11 995683. 2023.
    Introduction: There is currently no binding, internationally accepted and successful approach to ensure global equitable access to healthcare during a pandemic. The aim of this ethical analysis is to bring into the discussion a legally regulated vaccine allocation as a possible strategy for equitable global access to vaccines. We focus our analysis on COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access) and an existing EU regulation that, after adjustment, could promote global vaccine allocation. Methods: Th…Read more
  •  210
    Climate Change, Pollution, Deforestation, and Mental Health: Research Trends, Gaps, and Ethical Considerations
    with Moritz E. Wigand, Ansgar Scherp, Thomas Becker, and Florian Steger
    GeoHealth 6 (11). 2022.
    Climate change, pollution, and deforestation have a negative impact on global mental health. There is an environmental justice dimension to this challenge as wealthy people and high-income countries are major contributors to climate change and pollution, while poor people and low-income countries are heavily affected by the consequences. Using state-of-the art data mining, we analyzed and visualized the global research landscape on mental health, climate change, pollution and deforestation over …Read more
  •  153
    Informed Consent in Clinical Studies Involving Human Participants: Ethical Insights of Medical Researchers in Germany and Poland
    with Marcin Orzechowski, Oxana Kosenko, Katarzyna Woniak, and Florian Steger
    Frontiers in Medicine 9 901059. 2022.
    Background: The internationalization of clinical studies requires a shared understanding of the fundamental ethical values guiding clinical studies. It is important that these values are not only embraced at the legal level but also adopted by clinicians themselves during clinical studies. Objective: Our goal is to provide an insight on how clinicians in Germany and Poland perceive and identify the different ethical issues regarding informed consent in clinical studies. Methods: To gain an und…Read more
  •  134
    Conflicting Aims and Values in the Application of Smart Sensors in Geriatric Rehabilitation: Ethical Analysis
    with Christopher Predel, Frank Ursin, Marcin Orzechowski, Timo Ropinski, and Florian Steger
    JMIR mHealth and uHealth 10 (6). 2022.
    Background: Smart sensors have been developed as diagnostic tools for rehabilitation to cover an increasing number of geriatric patients. They promise to enable an objective assessment of complex movement patterns. Objective: This research aimed to identify and analyze the conflicting ethical values associated with smart sensors in geriatric rehabilitation and provide ethical guidance on the best use of smart sensors to all stakeholders, including technology developers, health professionals, pat…Read more
  •  279
    Energy sovereignty: a values-based conceptual analysis
    with Eduardo Noboa
    Science and Engineering Ethics 28 (6): 54. 2022.
    Achieving energy sovereignty is increasingly gaining prominence as a goal in energy politics. The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual analysis of this principle from an ethics and social justice perspective. We rely on the literature on food sovereignty to identify through a comparative analysis the elements energy sovereignty will most likely demand and thereafter distinguish the unique constituencies of the energy sector. The idea of energy sovereignty embraces a series of values, amo…Read more
  •  162
    Aligning Patient’s Ideas of a Good Life with Medically Indicated Therapies in Geriatric Rehabilitation Using Smart Sensors
    with Frank Ursin, Christopher Predel, and Florian Steger
    Sensors 21 (24): 8479. 2021.
    New technologies such as smart sensors improve rehabilitation processes and thereby increase older adults’ capabilities to participate in social life, leading to direct physical and mental health benefits. Wearable smart sensors for home use have the additional advantage of monitoring day-to-day activities and thereby identifying rehabilitation progress and needs. However, identifying and selecting rehabilitation priorities is ethically challenging because physicians, therapists, and caregivers …Read more
  •  39
    Explicability of artificial intelligence in radiology: Is a fifth bioethical principle conceptually necessary?
    with Frank Ursin and Florian Steger
    Bioethics 36 (2): 143-153. 2022.
    Recent years have witnessed intensive efforts to specify which requirements ethical artificial intelligence (AI) must meet. General guidelines for ethical AI consider a varying number of principles important. A frequent novel element in these guidelines, that we have bundled together under the term explicability, aims to reduce the black-box character of machine learning algorithms. The centrality of this element invites reflection on the conceptual relation between explicability and the four bi…Read more
  •  215
    Access to Prenatal Testing and Ethically Informed Counselling in Germany, Poland and Russia
    with Marcin Orzechowski, Katarzyna Woniak, Oxana Kosenko, Galina Lvovna Mikirtichan, Alexandr Zinovievich Lichtshangof, and Florian Steger
    Journal of Personalized Medicine 11 (9): 937. 2021.
    The development of new methods in the field of prenatal testing leads to an expansion of information that needs to be provided to expectant mothers. The aim of this research is to explore opinions and attitudes of gynecologists in Germany, Poland and Russia towards access to prenatal testing and diagnostics in these countries. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with n = 18 gynecologists in Germany, Poland and Russia. The interviews were analyzed using the methods of content analysis and t…Read more
  •  22
    Property Claims on Antibiotic Effectiveness
    Public Health Ethics 14 (3). 2021.
    The scope and type of property rights recognized over the effectiveness of antibiotics have a direct effect on how those claiming ownership engage in the exploitation and stewardship of this scarce resource. We examine the different property claims and rights the four major interest groups are asserting on antibiotics: (i) the inventors, (ii) those demanding that the resource be treated like any other transferable commodity, (iii) those advocating usage restrictions based on good stewardship pri…Read more
  •  377
    Who owns the taste of coffee – examining implications of biobased means of production in food
    In Hanna Schübel & Ivo Wallimann-Helmer (eds.), Justice and food security in a changing climate, Wageningen Academic Publishers. pp. 85-90. 2021.
    Synthetic foods advocates offer the promise of efficient, reliable, and sustainable food production. Engineered organisms become factories to produce food. Proponents claim that through this technique important barriers can be eliminated which would facilitate the production of traditional foods outside their climatic range. This technique would allow reducing food miles, secure future supply, and maintain quality and taste expectations. In this paper, we examine coffee production via biobased m…Read more
  •  308
    Adapting agriculture to a changing climate: a social justice perspective
    In Hanna Schübel & Ivo Wallimann-Helmer (eds.), Justice and food security in a changing climate, Wageningen Academic Publishers. pp. 31-35. 2021.
    We are already past the point where climate change mitigation alone does not suffice and major efforts need to be undertaken to adapt agriculture to climate change. As this situation was both foreseeable and avoidable, it is urgent to see that particularly people who have historically contributed the least to climate change do not end up assuming most of the costs. Climate change will have the worst effects on agriculture in the tropical region in the form of droughts, extreme heat waves and mas…Read more
  •  182
    Medication of Hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir and Convalescent Plasma during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany—An Ethical Analysis
    with Katja Voit and Florian Steger
    International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (11): 5685. 2021.
    This paper aims to analyze the ethical challenges in experimental drug use during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, using Germany as a case study. In Germany uniform ethical guidelines were available early on nationwide, which was considered as desirable by other states to reduce uncertainties and convey a message of unity. The purpose of this ethical analysis is to assist the preparation of future guidelines on the use of medicines during public health emergencies. The use of hydroxychl…Read more
  •  292
    Normative framework of informed consent in clinical research in Germany, Poland, and Russia
    with Marcin Orzechowski, Katarzyna Woniak, and Florian Steger
    BMC Medical Ethics 22 (1): 1-10. 2021.
    Background: Biomedical research nowadays is increasingly carried out in multinational and multicenter settings. Due to disparate national regulations on various ethical aspects, such as informed consent, there is the risk of ethical compromises when involving human subjects in research. Although the Declaration of Helsinki is the point of reference for ethical conduct of research on humans, national normative requirements may diverge from its provisions. The aim of this research is to examine re…Read more
  •  269
    Biomarker-based predictive tests for subjectively asymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are utilized in research today. Novel applications of artificial intelligence (AI) promise to predict the onset of AD several years in advance without determining biomarker thresholds. Until now, little attention has been paid to the new ethical challenges that AI brings to the early diagnosis in asymptomatic individuals, beyond contributing to research purposes, when we still lack adequate treatment. The aim…Read more
  •  42
    Pandemic preparedness and cooperative justice
    Developing World Bioethics 21 (4): 201-210. 2021.
    By examining the global public good nature of pandemic preparedness we can identify key social justice issues that need to be confronted to increase citizens’ voluntary compliance with prevention and mitigation measures. As people tend to cooperate on a voluntary basis only with systems they consider fair, it becomes difficult to ensure compliance with public health measures in a context of extreme inequality. Among the major inequalities that need to be addressed we can find major differences i…Read more
  •  375
    Reseña: LOEWE D Ética y coronavirus (review)
    Acta Bioethica 26 (2): 264-265. 2020.
    Reseña del libro: Daniel Loewe (2020), Ética y coronavirus. Santiago de Chile: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
  •  27
    Employing a social justice framework, this book examines the effects of innovation incentives and policies in agriculture. It addresses access to the objects of innovation, the direction of science and the type of innovations that are available, opportunities to participate in research and development, as well as effects on future generations. The book examines the potential value of preventive and reconciliatory measures, drawing on concepts from procedural and restorative justice. As such it o…Read more
  •  633
    Epistemic ignorance, poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic
    Asian Bioethics Review 12 (4): 519-527. 2020.
    In various responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can observe insufficient sensitivity towards the needs and circumstances of poorer citizens. Particularly in a context of high inequality, policy makers need to engage with the wider public in debates and consultations to gain better insights in the realities of the worst-off within their jurisdiction. When consultations involve members of traditionally underrepresented groups, these are not only more inclusive, which is in itself an ethical aim,…Read more
  •  23
    Citizen Science for Biomedical Research and Contributive Justice
    American Journal of Bioethics 19 (8): 60-62. 2019.
    Engaging citizens in science projects has a number of epistemic benefits in terms of improving scientific out- comes and adjusting research to develop innovative solu- tions that are likelier to be used. Yet the emphasis on the epistemic benefits of citizen science projects and its risks, such as exploitation and a lack of benefit-sharing, a fail- ure to sufficiently inform participants of possible hazards and privacy issues, and unacknowledged authorship, which we can find in Wiggins and Wilban…Read more
  •  540
    Ethical issues involving long-term land leases: a soil sciences perspective
    with Georges F. Félix
    In Cristian Timmermann & Georges F. Félix (eds.), Sustainable governance and management of food systems: ethical perspectives, Wageningen Academic Publishers. pp. 287-292. 2019.
    As populations grow and arable land becomes increasingly scarce, large-scale long- term land leases are signed at a growing rate. Countries and investors with large amounts of financial resources and a strong agricultural industry seek long-term land leases for agricultural exploitation or investment purposes. Leaders of financially poorer countries often advertise such deals as a fast way to attract foreign capital. Much has been said about the short-term social costs these types of leases invo…Read more
  •  420
    Fair agricultural innovation for a changing climate
    In Erinn Gilson & Sarah Kenehan (eds.), Food, Environment and Climate Change, Rowman & Littlefield International. pp. 213-230. 2018.
    Agricultural innovation happens at different scales and through different streams. In the absence of a common global research agenda, decisions on which innovations are brought to existence, and through which methods, are taken with insufficient view on how innovation affects social relations, the environment, and future food production. Mostly, innovations are considered from the standpoint of economic efficiency, particularly in relationship to creating jobs for technology-exporting countries.…Read more
  •  490
    A Latin American Perspective to Agricultural Ethics
    In Eduardo Rivera-López & Martin Hevia (eds.), Controversies in Latin American Bioethics, Springer. pp. 203-217. 2019.
    The mixture of political, social, cultural and economic environments in Latin America, together with the enormous diversity in climates, natural habitats and biological resources the continent offers, make the ethical assessment of agricultural policies extremely difficult. Yet the experience gained while addressing the contemporary challenges the region faces, such as rapid urbanization, loss of culinary and crop diversity, extreme inequality, disappearing farming styles, water and land grabs, …Read more
  •  1110
    Food security as a global public good
    In José Luis Vivero-Pol, Tomaso Ferrando, Olivier de Schutter & Ugo Mattei (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Food as a Commons, Routledge. pp. 85-99. 2020.
    Food security brings a number of benefits to humanity from which nobody can be excluded and which can be simultaneously enjoyed by all. An economic understanding of the concept sees food security qualify as a global public good. However, there are four other ways of understanding a public good which are worthy of attention. A normative public good is a good from which nobody ought to be excluded. Alternatively, one might acknowledge the benevolent character of a public good. Others have argued …Read more
  •  2552
    Contributive Justice: An exploration of a wider provision of meaningful work
    Social Justice Research 31 (1): 85-111. 2018.
    Extreme inequality of opportunity leads to a number of social tensions, inefficiencies and injustices. One issue of increasing concern is the effect inequality is having on people’s fair chances of attaining meaningful work, thus limiting opportunities to make a significant positive contribution to society and reducing the chances of living a flourishing life and developing their potential. On a global scale we can observe an increasingly uneven provision of meaningful work, raising a series of …Read more