Alexander Christian
Research
- ethics of science
- good scientific practice / responsible conduct of research
- scientific misconduct & questionable research practices
- bias in biomedical research
- ethics of human germline editing
- general philosophy of science
- demarcation problem, in particular scientific creationism & intelligent design creationism
- values & value neutrality in science
- Human-Animal-Studies
Appointments & Education
- Appointments
- Since April 2020: head of the project Ethics of science for empirical disciplines (financed with QVM-funding)
- Since 2017: Assistant Director of the Düsseldorf Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science (DCLPS)
- Since 2012: Research fellow at the Chair for Theoretical Philosophy & Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science at the Heinrich-Heine Universität Duesseldorf
- 2006 - 2012: Student assistant (Tutor for philosophy of science and epistemology) at the Chair for Theoretical Philosophy at the Heinrich-Heine Universität Duesseldorf
- Education
- 2018, Dr. phil. (summa cum laude): "Good Scientific Practice — A philosophical investigation with case studies on biomedical research" (370 p.), (Supervisor: Gerhard Schurz, 2nd corrector: Christoph Kann), Heinrich-Heine Universität Duesseldorf, Germany
- 2012, Master of Arts / M.A. (philosophy), Topic of Masterthesis: "Science & Pseudoscience" (190 p.), (Supervisor: Gerhard Schurz, 2nd corrector: Christoph Kann), Heinrich-Heine Universität Duesseldorf, Germany
- 2011, Bachelor of Arts / B.A. (major: philosophy, minor: sociology), Topic of Bachelorthesis: "Creationism and Intelligent Design" (142 p.), Supervisor: Gerhard Schurz, 2nd corrector: Christoph Kann) Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Germany
- 2005 - 2012 Studies in philosophy, sociology and biology at the Heinrich-Heine University in Duesseldorf, Germany
Publications (selection)
in print
- Christian, A. (2022): "Scheitern in der Medikamentenforschung – Zwei wissenschaftsethische Fallstudien über Neuraminidasehemmer und Hydroxychloroquin" in: Michael Jungert & Sebastian Schuol (Hg.): Scheitern in der Wissenschaft. Paderborn: Mentis.
- Christian, A. (2021): "Reflections on popular culture and philosophy" in Kriterion, Special Issue: Popularization of Philosophy.
in preparation
- Christian, A. (2022): "Gute wissenschaftliche Praxis als Thema im gymnasialen Oberstufenunterricht" in: Bettina Bussmann (Hg.): Theoretisches Philosophieren und Lebensweltorientierung. Metzler.
- Christian, A. & Gawel, I. (Hg.): Wissenschaftsleugnung und Wissenschaftskommunikation. De Berlin: Gruyter.
published
- Christian, A. (2020). Gute wissenschaftliche Praxis. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Christian, A. (2019): „Wissenschaft und Pseudowissenschaft - Im Spannungsfeld von Medizin und Alternativmedizin“ in: Jungert et al. (2019): Wissenschaftsreflexion - Interdisziplinäre Grundlagen und ethische Perspektiven. Paderborn: Mentis.
Villanueva, C. H. & Christian, A. (2019): „ArkAngel: Over-Parenting As A Moral Crime“ in: David Kyle Johnson & Jeff Irwing (2019): Black Mirror and Philosophy. London: Blackwell.
Christian, A. & Albersmeier, F. (2019): "A place where everyone can be anything — Utopian ideals in Zootopia“, in: Richard Davis (Ed.): Disney and Philosophy. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. - Christian, A. (2018): "Dilbert and the absurdity of modern corporate culture", in: Daniel Yim, Galen Foresman and Robert Arp (Ed.): Scott Adams and Philosophy. London: Open Court. (amazon)
- Christian, A. et al (2018, Ed.): Philosophy of science — Between natural science, social science and the humanities. Springer. (Springer)
- Christian, A. et al (2018): Introduction. In: Christian, A. et al (2017, Ed.): Philosophy of Science — Between natural science, social science and the humanities. Springer.
- Christian, A. (2018): "vegan lifestyle", in: Paul B. Thompson and David M. Kaplan (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics, 2nd edition.
- Christian, A. (2017): "The suppression of medical evidence," in: Journal for General Philosophy of Science, Special Issue GWP.2016. (Springer)
- Christian, A. (2017): "There is no right life in the wrong one — The Jennings meet Adorno", in Robert Arp &Kevin Guilfoy: The Americans and Philosophy. London: Open Court. (amazon)
- Christian, A., Feldbacher, C. & Gebharter, A. (2017): The 2nd Conference of the German Society for Philosophy of Science (GWP.2016). Journal for General Philosophy of Science.
- Christian, A. (2017): „Is Ellen Ripley a Feminist?“, in Kevin S. Decker: Alien and Philosophy. New York: Blackwell. (amazon)
- Christian, A. (2017): Creationism. Bryan S. Turner: The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory. New York: Blackwell.
- Christian, A. (2016, book review): Reydon, Thomas (2013): Wissenschaftsethik — Eine Einführung. Darmstadt: UTB. Zeitschrift für philosophische Literatur, (1) 2016.
- Christian, A., Feldbacher, C., Gebharter, A., & Retzlaff, N. (2015). The 5th Conference of the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA15), 23-26 September. The Reasoner, 9(11).
- Christian, A., & Schurz, G. (2015). Bericht: Werte in den Wissenschaften. Information Philosophie, (3).
- Christian, A. (2013). Wissenschaft und Pseudowissenschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
- Christian, A. (2013, translation): Rudner, R. (1953). The scientist qua scientist makes value judgments. in: Carrier, M., & Schurz, G. (2013, Hg.). Werte in den Wissenschaften. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
Talks (selection)
- 16/09/2021: Scheitern in der Medikamentenforschung, Workshop: Scheitern in der Wissenschaft, Erlangen (Germany)
- 09/09/2021: Localized strong moral expertise, SOPhiA 2021, Moral and Scientific Expertise
- 17/06/2021: Obstacles to debating the ethics of human embryonic stem cell research (invited talk), Stammzellnetzwerk.NRW / StemCellNetwork.NRW, Spotlight Series
- 03/05/2021: Tierethik für die biomedizinische Forschung? Eine Kritik eines neuen Ansatzes von Tom L. Beuachamp und David DeGrazia (invited talk), 4. Varenseller Tierschutzlehrertagung
- 08/12/2020: On the denial of medical knowledge during the COVID-19-Pandemic Forschungsseminar für Theoretische Philosophie, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 06/03/2020: Moral issues in stem-cell-based research on CRISPR/Cas9UniStem Day – International day of stemm-cell research: CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 29/10/2019: Evidence-based risk assessment in the context of human germline editing via CRISPR/Cas9, Forschungsseminar für Theoretische Philosophie, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 20/09/2019: Open Science — Chances and Limitations (invited, plenary discussion), Studierendenkonkress Philosophie, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 13/09/2019: Scientists are moral experts — but not in the way you think!, Workshop: Moral Expertise, LMU Munich (Germany) (invited)
- 20/06/2019: Ethical challenges of human germline editing via CRISPR/Cas9, International Conference on Ethics, Porto (Portugal)
- 12/06/2019: Moralische Expertise und epistemische Integrität in der Unternehmensberatung, LMU Munich (Germany) (invited)
- 06/06/2019: Citizen Science & Social Responsibility (together with Christian J. Feldbacher-Escamilla) Workshop: Citizen Science: new epistemological, ethical and political challenges, Lyon
- 04/05/2019: Warum gibt es (noch immer) Tierversuche?, 3. Varenseller Tierschutzlehrertagung (invited)
- 16/04/2019: Ethical challenges of human germline editing via CRISPR/Cas9, Forschungsseminar für Theoretische Philosophie, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 27/02/2019: Disambiguating scientific disagreement, honest mistakes, lack of care, and misconduct in medical statistics, GWP.2019
- 26/01/2018: Privatization of pharmaceutical research?, MCMP, LMU Munich, 2018
- 27/09/2017: Virtue-based research ethics and moral luck, DGPhil 2017
- 07/08/2017: Virtue-based research ethics and moral luck, EPSA17
- 22/07/2017: Virtue-based research ethics and moral luck, ECAP9
- 10/05/2017: Features of fake "scientific" conferences, Kolloquium für Philosophie, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 01/07/2016: The vice of virtues — Virtue-based research ethics and the organizational traits of scientific institutions, Gummersbacher Kolloquium, Gummersbach (Germany)
- 2016, The struggle for epistemic superiority in medical research (together with Christian J. Feldbacher-Escamilla), EASST 2016, Barcelona (Spain)
- 19/05/2016 Klassische Tugenden in der Forschung, Forschungsseminar zur Philosophiegeschichte, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 2016 The social responsibilities of medical scientists, Forschungsseminar für Theoretische Philosophie, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 2016 The suppression of scientific evidence, GWP. 2016, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 2015 A modest account of social responsibility in medical research, SOPhiA 2015, Salzburg (Austria)
- 2015 Suppression of medical evidence and it’s adverse effect on risk assessment, SOPhiA 2015, Salzburg (Austria)
- 07/07/2015 On the suppression of medical evidence, Forschungsseminar für Theoretische Philosophie, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 03/07/2015 Forschungsfreiheit im Kontext privatfinanzierter Pharmerforschung, 10. Gummersbacher, Kolloquium: Dimensionen der Freiheit, Gummersbach (Germany)
- 11/06/2015 Zur Unterdrückung von Evidenz in der Humanmedizin, Wissenschaftlicher Fortschritt in den Sozial- und Humanwissenschaften?, Zentrum für Quantitative Empirische Sozialforschung, Leipzig (Germany)
- 04/09/2014 Is it rational to report supposed cases of scientific misconduct? SOPhiA 2014, Salzburg (Austria)
- 02/07/2014 Selbstkorrektur kommerzialisierter Wissenschaft – Neue Entwicklungen aus der wissenschaftstheoretischen und -ethischen Diskussion zur Sicherung guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis 9. Gummersbacher Kolloquium: Wissen, Werte, Wünsche. Grundlagen menschlichen Handelns, Gummersbach (Germany)
- 21/05/2014 Grenzen wissenschaftlicher Selbstkontrolle Kolloquium für Philosophie, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 01/07/2016: The vice of virtues — Virtue-based research ethics and the organizational traits of scientific institutions, Gummersbacher Kolloquium, Gummersbach (Germany)
- 2016, The struggle for epistemic superiority in medical research (together with Christian J. Feldbacher-Escamilla), EASST 2016, Barcelona (Spain)
- 19/05/2016 Klassische Tugenden in der Forschung, Forschungsseminar zur Philosophiegeschichte, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 2016 The social responsibilities of medical scientists, Forschungsseminar für Theoretische Philosophie, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 2016 The suppression of scientific evidence, GWP. 2016, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 2015 A modest account of social responsibility in medical research, SOPhiA 2015, Salzburg (Austria)
- 2015 Suppression of medical evidence and it’s adverse effect on risk assessment, SOPhiA 2015, Salzburg (Austria)
- 07/07/2015 On the suppression of medical evidence, Forschungsseminar für Theoretische Philosophie, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
- 03/07/2015 Forschungsfreiheit im Kontext privatfinanzierter Pharmerforschung, 10. Gummersbacher, Kolloquium: Dimensionen der Freiheit, Gummersbach (Germany)
- 11/06/2015 Zur Unterdrückung von Evidenz in der Humanmedizin, Wissenschaftlicher Fortschritt in den Sozial- und Humanwissenschaften?, Zentrum für Quantitative Empirische Sozialforschung, Leipzig (Germany)
- 04/09/2014 Is it rational to report supposed cases of scientific misconduct? SOPhiA 2014, Salzburg (Austria)
- 02/07/2014 Selbstkorrektur kommerzialisierter Wissenschaft – Neue Entwicklungen aus der wissenschaftstheoretischen und -ethischen Diskussion zur Sicherung guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis 9. Gummersbacher Kolloquium: Wissen, Werte, Wünsche. Grundlagen menschlichen Handelns, Gummersbach (Germany)
- 21/05/2014 Grenzen wissenschaftlicher Selbstkontrolle Kolloquium für Philosophie, HHU, Duesseldorf (Germany)
Teaching
- 2021 / 2022
- Ethics of Science II - Moral Integrity and Social Responsibilty
- Argumentation
- 2021
- Ethics of Science I - Epistemic Integrity
- Ethics of Science II - Moral Integrity and Social Responsibilty
- Beauchamp & DeGrazia: Principles of Animal Research Ethics
- Bioethics & Environmental Ethics (DFG Research Training Group EvoPAD at the University of Münster)
- 2020 / 2021
- Ethics of Science I - Epistemic Integrity
- Argumentation
- 2020
- Ethics of Stem Cell Research
- 2019 / 2020
- Research Methods
- Argumentation Theory
- Animal Ethics (DFG Research Training Group EvoPAD at the University of Münster)
- 2019
- Philosophy of Medicine
- Classical Readings in Analytic Philosophy
- 2018 / 2019
- Argumentation Theory
- Science and Pseudoscience
- Social Responsibility in Biomedicine (at the University of Muenster)
- 2018
- Introduction to ethics of science
- Ignorance in biomedical research
- 2017 / 2018
- Objectivity in science: Between Realism and Social Constructivism
- Beauchamp & Childress: Principles of biomedical ethics
- 2017
- Ethics of science (together with A. Gebharter)
- Theories of truth
- What is a law of nature? (together with A. Gebharter)
- 2016 / 2017
- Social responsibility in research
- Research methods
- 2016
- Ethics of scientific publishing
- What is a scientific explanation?
- 2015 / 2016
- Responsible conduct of research
- Scientific creationism & Intelligent Design
- 2015
- Scientific realism & antirealism
- Conflicts of interest in medical research
- 2014 / 2015
- What is analytic philosophy? (with C. J. Feldbacher-Escamilla)
- Classical Readings in analytic philosophy (with C. J. Feldbacher-Escamilla)
- Freedom of science
- 2014
- Values in science (with C. J. Feldbacher-Escamilla)
- Science & pseudoscience
- 2013 / 2014
- Ethics of scientific publishing basic
- 2013
- Scientific misconduct basic
- 2012 / 2013
- Applied philosophy of science