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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
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