ReGenesis

Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, vol. 68, pp. 750–767

Abstract

Abstract Inspired by the success of synthesising organic substances by Friedrich Wöhler in 1828, the vision of creating life in the laboratory synthetically has become increasingly accessible for today’s synthetic biology and synthetic genomics, respectively. The engineering of biology – a contemporary version of the liaison of technology and organic form – creates cellular machines, biobricks, biomolecular ‘borgs’, and entire synthetic genomes of artificial organisms. Besides major ethical concerns, the shift in scientific epistemology is of interest. Unlike classical analytical science, synthetic science understands by a process of generation, through which myriads of new things are created, dramatically changing the living environment.

Authors 1

1. Gabriele Gramelsberger corresponding Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen , Theaterplatz 14 , Aachen , Germany