Comments on Düwell: Research as a challenge for ethical reflection

The ethical question addressed in this paper concerns the moral responsibility of the researcher. This question is directly connected with the task of different actors in society to reflect on the moral dimensions of research and their interrelationships in terms of moral obligations and concerns. This aspect is not discussed in the paper. When the physicians accepted the rights of the patient to informed consent, the ethos of autonomy and self-determination of the patient or individual human being became central in our thinking. The central position of autonomy is not, in Düwell’s opinion, challenged by the four principles of Beauchamp and Childress. They include autonomy, beneficence, maleficence and justice, but when challenged the remaining and dominant position is human autonomy and self-determination.