Bernhard Irrgang

Bernhard Irrgang (born August 22, 1953 in Würzburg ) is a German technology philosopher and ethicist .

Life

Bernhard Irrgang studied philosophy , Catholic theology , German and Indology in Würzburg. He also studied philosophy and theology in Passau and Munich.

Irrgang passed his first state examination for teaching at grammar schools in 1979 in the subjects of German, Catholic religion and philosophy.

Irrgang wrote his doctoral thesis on skepticism in the Enlightenment and was awarded a doctorate in philosophy in Würzburg in 1982. He received a scholarship from the Cusanuswerk Episcopal Study Fund for basic and doctoral funding . In 1985 Irrgang passed his second state examination in Landshut. This was followed in 1991 with a doctorate in theology in Würzburg and Munich with a thesis on Christian environmental ethics . In 1996 he completed his habilitation in philosophy in Bamberg with a thesis on research ethics, genetic engineering and new biotechnology .

Bernhard Irrgang worked at the University of Würzburg in 1982 and 1983 and at the TU Braunschweig in 1985 in philosophy. From 1986 to 1991 he was an assistant in theological ethics at the University of Munich and in 1992 and 1993 at the University of Siegen . From 1988 to 1993 he held interdisciplinary seminars at the gene center in Munich and worked as a lecturer at the gene center in 1992 and 1993. Furthermore, he worked in the departments of philosophy history and ethics at the Munich Adult Education Center from 1985 to 1998 and in Siegen from 1992 and 1993. Since 1993 he has been professor for philosophy of technology at the TU Dresden . He teaches technology philosophy, technology ethics and applied ethics. His international teaching focuses on South, Southeast and East Asia, South America and the USA on cultural theory of technology, technology and culture transfer, technoscience and technoresearch, hypermodern technology (genetic engineering, biomedicine, information technology, AI and expert systems, robotics), new wars and Cyberwar, Neurophilosophy and Anthropology; Borderline questions biology / philosophy.

In 1996 Irrgang became an ethics committee of the Human Tissue and Cell Research Foundation. From 1996 to 2005 he was a member of the DFG Graduate College Local Renewable Energies. From 1999 to 2001 he was a member of the human genetics working group at the European Academy Bad Neuenahr / Ahrweiler. From 2001 to 2003 he participated in the Ladenburg discussion group on long-term responsibility. From 2001 to 2011 he was a member of the ecological advisory group at the German Bishops' Conference. From 2002 to 2005 he was active in the VDI Committee on Technology and Interculturality. In 2006 Irrgang became an ethics advisory board at the TU Dresden, especially the medical faculty. From 2004 to 2008 he was a member of the “Innovation” working group at Acatech (German Academy of Science and Engineering). From 2007 to 2009 he was a member of the Pharmacogenetics and Personalized Medicine research group at the University of Greifswald and the Alfried von Kruip Kolleg Greifswald. From 2008 to 2011 he was involved in a research project of the Faculty of Architecture of the TU Dresden on “Adventure Worlds and Adventure Parks” in the sub-project “Joy in using technology”. From 2008 to 2010 Irrgang accompanied the research project "Forest Use and Advice in Developing Countries" (Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya) of the Faculty of Forestry at TU Dresden in the sub-project "Cultural Embedding of Forest Use". From 2010 to 2015 he participated in ESF projects for Predictive Medicine and ambient intelligence ( Ambient Intelligence ) as well as assisted living . From 2011 was the Faculty Council of the Philosophical Faculty of the TU Dresden. Since 2013 he has also participated in the TU Excellence Initiative. In 2010 he led a workshop on robotics in Germany and Japan since 2013 research seminars on "new wars", since 2014 a workshop on drones and combat robots and 2015 on cyber war ( cyberwar ).

Irrgang is co-founder of the journal and book series Forum for Interdisciplinary Research and has been a co-editor there since 1988. He works with the Philosophical Literature Gazette and Ethica . He is also a member of the advisory board of the book series Technikphilosophie published by Klaus Kornwachs and editor of the book series Technikhermeneutik in Dresden since 2002.

His main areas of work from 2014 to 2019 were the cultural theory of technology, technology and culture transfer, technoscience and technoresearch, hypermodern technology (new genetic engineering, biomedicine, systems biology, information technology, AI and expert systems, robotics), new wars and cyberwar; Humanities research in the context of digital humanities, on the philosophy of the mind and body-oriented anthropology in dealing with neurodarwinism and AI, on metaepistemology on the basis of self-referring skepticism in the conflict of interpretations with cross-scale computer modeling and cybernetics for the explication of transdisciplinary methods, on border questions between biology / Philosophy, bioethics and environmental ethics, elaboration of a comprehensive biophilosophy on technological-economic development paths in the context of hypermodern technology and culture under the sign of sustainability.

Bernhard Irrgang was released into retirement on April 1, 2019. He was initially chairman of the board and has been honorary president of the NetPhilTech eV association since 2019

Publications (selection)

Skepticism in the Enlightenment . Frankfurt 1982
Christian environmental ethics. An introduction . Munich / Basel 1992.
Textbook of evolutionary epistemology: theses, conceptions and criticism. 1st edition. Verlag E. Reinhardt, Munich / Basel 1993. (completely revised new edition 2001) (= UTB; 1765)
Medical Ethics Outline . Munich / Basel 1995. (Translation into Japanese with a new preface in 2002)
Research ethics genetic engineering and new biotechnology. Foundation with special consideration of genetic engineering projects on plants, animals and microorganisms . Stuttgart 1997.
Practical ethics from a hermeneutic perspective . Paderborn 1998.
Technical culture. Instrumental understanding and technical action; (Philosophy of Technology Volume 1) . Paderborn 2001.
Technical practice. Design perspectives of technical development; (Philosophy of Technology, Vol. 2) . Paderborn 2002.
Technical progress. Legitimacy problems of innovative technology; (Philosophy of Technology, Vol. 3) . Paderborn 2002.
Human genetics on the way to a new eugenics from below? . Bad Neuenahr / Ahrweiler 2002.
Nature as a resource, consumer society and long-term responsibility. On the philosophy of sustainable development. Dresden 2002. (Technical Hermeneutics Volume 2)
From Mendelian Genetics to Synthetic Biology. Epistemology of Biotechnology Laboratory Practice. Dresden 2003. (Technical hermeneutics, Volume 3)
Posthuman humanity? Artificial intelligence, cyberspace, robots, cyborgs and designer humans - anthropology of artificial humans in the 21st century . Stuttgart 2005.
Introduction to bioethics . Munich 2005.
Technology transfer across cultures. Comparative Hermeneutics of Technology in Europe, India and China; Dresden Philosophy of Technology Studies 1 . Frankfurt u. a. 2006.
Hermeneutic ethics. Pragmatic-ethical orientation in technological societies . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2007.
Brain and body spirit. Phenomenological-hermeneutic philosophy of mind . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2007.
Technology as power. Experiments on political technology . Publishing house Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2007.
Philosophy of technology . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2008.
The body of man. Outline of a phenomenological-hermeneutic anthropology . Stuttgart 2009.
Technical philosophy floor plan. Hermeneutic-phenomenological perspectives . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2009.
From technical construction to technological design. Philosophical experiments on the theory of engineering practice ; Munster 2010
Homo Faber: work, technical way of life and human body ; Wuerzburg 2010
Critics of Technological Lifeworld. Collection of Philosophical Essays; ed. Arun Kumar Tripathi ; Frankfurt u. a. 2011
Internet ethics. Philosophical attempts at communication culture in the information age ; Wuerzburg 2011
Project medicine. New medicine, technology-induced change in values and ethical pragmatics ; Stuttgart 2012
Handling technical power. Philosophy of Technology ; Stuttgart 2014

Book series (selection)

Technical hermeneutics ; Dresden (from 2002)
Dresden Philosophy of Technology Studies / Dresden Studies on the Philosophy of Technology ; Frankfurt, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Vienna (from 2005)

Co-author (selection)

together with Nestor Corona; Technology as skill? Philosophy of history of technology ; 271 p .; Dettelbach 1999
CR Bartram, JP Beckmann, F. Breyer. G. Frey, C. Fonatsch , B. Irrgang, J. Taupitz, K.-M. Seel, F. Thiele; Human genetic diagnostics. Scientific basis and social consequences ; Berlin et al. 2000
together with: Michael Göttfert, Matthias Kunz, Joachim Lege, Gerhard Rödel, Ines Vondran; Genetic engineering in plant breeding. An interdisciplinary study ; Dettelbach 2000
The German Bishops (Commission for Societal and Social Issues, World Church Commission) No. 29 Climate change: focus of global, intergenerational and ecological justice. An expert text on the challenge of global climate change ; Bonn September 2006
Hubig, Christoph, Hans Poser 2007: (Ed.) Technology and Interculturality. Problems, basic terms, solution criteria; VDI report 36 ; Dusseldorf
The German Bishops (Commission for Societal and Social Issues, Commission Universal Church) No. 245 Committed to creation. Suggestions for a sustainable use of energy. An expert text on the ethical basis of a sustainable energy supply ; Bonn May 16, 2011

Co-editor (selection)

with Hans Michael Baumgartner; At the end of modern times? The demand for a fundamental change in value and its problems ; 205 p., Würzburg 1985 (own contributions to the problem of modern times, Husserl's late philosophy and the genesis of the philosophy of values)
with Jörg Klawitter and Klaus Philipp Seif; Ways out of the environmental crisis. Documentation of a conference of the Catholic Academy Rabanus Maurus, Wiesbaden, and the study group development problems of industrial society (STEIG) e. V. , Würzburg, 199 p., Frankfurt, Munich 1987 (own contribution to the problem of justifying environmental ethics)
with Matthias Lutz-Bachmann; Justification of Ethics. Contributions to the philosophical ethics discussion today , Würzburg 1990 (own contribution to evolutionary ethics)
with Jörg Klawitter; Artificial Intelligence , 163 pages, Stuttgart 1990 (joint introduction with J. Klawitter)
with Hans Peter Böhm, Helmut Gebauer; Sustainability as a model for technology design; Forum for Interdisciplinary Research 14 Dettelbach 1995 (contribution to technology design)
with Ricardo Maliandi; Technical philosophy in Latin America. Topics, problems and development prospects at the beginning of the 21st century ; 216 p .; Technological Hermeneutics Vol. 1; Dresden 2003
with Sybille Winter: modernity and cultural identity. Concretization of transcultural technical hermeneutics in southern Latin America ; Frankfurt u. a. 2007
with Thomas Rentsch: Bioethics in the philosophical discussion ; Dresden Booklets for Philosophy 12; Dresden 2010
with Michael Funk: Robotics in Germany and Japan. Philosophical and Technical Perspectives ; Frankfurt 2014

Lexicon article

Lexicon of Philosophical Works , Stuttgart 1988; ed. by M. Koettnitz-Bies, J. Nida-Rümelin, H. Olechnowitz, F. Volpi (eds.); Articles on: CA Crusius, R. Cudworth, GWF Leibniz, WE v. Tschirnhaus and Ch. Wolff, pp. 182f., 239f., 436f., 457f., 477f., 581f., 689f., 737f., 763-769, 805.
Kindler's Literature Lexicon ; New edition vol. 17; Christian Wolff; Metaphysics and ethics; Munich 1992, 801-803
Lexicon of Business Ethics ; ed. by G. Enderle, K. Homann, M. Honnecker, W. Kerber, H. Steinmann; Article power; Freiburg, Basel, Vienna 1993, 626-634
Lexicon Philosophy ; ed. by Franz Peter Burkard; Articles on: evolutionary epistemology, evolutionary ethics, medical ethics, ratiomorph, sociobiology, animals, animal ethics, economics, business ethics, scientific ethics; Stuttgart 1995, 139, 150 317f, 433, 487, 519f, 575f, 577
Lexicon for Theology and Church ; ed. by K. Baumgartner, H. Bürkle, K. Ganzer, W. Kasper, K. Kertelge, W. Korff, P. Walter; Freiburg, Basel, Vienna: Vol. 1: Antinomy; Anthropocentrism, ethical; Kind, biological; 1993, 743, 761f, 1042; Vol. 2: Jeremy Bentham, Modesty; 1994, 236, 307; Vol. 3: Determinism, ethical, decisionism, evolutionary ethics, research, ethical; 1995, 114, 176, 1072f, 1360; Vol. 5: causality, scientific; 1996, 1380f; Vol. 9: Technik, Technologie, philosophisch; 2000, 1308f; Vol. 10: Animal; Theological, ethical, 2001, 33f; Vol. 11: Ethics Audits, 2001, 70f
Handbook of Applied Ethics ; ed. by Julian Nida-Rümelin; Article gene ethics; Stuttgart 1996, 510-551; Ethics of genetic engineering and new biotechnology, completely revised 2nd edition 2005, 648-689
Lexicon of Bioethics ; ed. by Wilhelm Korff, Lutwin Beck, Paul Mikat; Gütersloh 1998; Art. Biocentric (Vol. I, 402-404); Art. Pathocentrism (Vol. II, 834-835); Art. Physiocentrics (Vol. III, 28-30); Theocentrics (Vol. III, 526-528); Art. Animal Welfare (Vol. III, 561-567)
Lexicon of basic philosophical concepts in theology ; ed. by Albert Franz, Wolfgang Baum, Karsten Kretzer; Darmstadt 2003; Art .: Enlightenment, eclecticism, experience, conscience, man, positivism, creation, technique / technology, telos
Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics, ed. Carl Mitcham and Thomson Gale , Detroit, USA: Art. German Perspectives 2005, 861- 868
Luck. An interdisciplinary manual ; ed. D. Thomä, Ch. Henning, O. Mitscherlich-Schönherr; Stuttgart; Art. Happiness in Hinduism; 2011, 340-342
Philosophy. History. Disciplines. Competencies ; ed. P. Breitenstein, J. Rohbeck; Stuttgart, Weimar 2011, 335-344, Art. Philosophy of Technology
New handbook of basic philosophical concepts ; ed. P. Kolmer, AG Wildfeuer; Vol. 3, Freiburg, Munich 2011, 2167–2179, Art. Philosophy of Technology
Dictionary of dignity ; ed. R. Gröschner, A. Kapust, O. Lembcke; Munich 2013, 303f; Art. Neurotechnology
What is conservative? ; ed: Markus Porsche-Ludwig & Jürgen Bellers (eds.) What is conservative?

A search for traces in politics, philosophy, science, literature; Nordhausen 2013, 105f ( ISBN 978-3-88309-785-5 )

literature

Dorit Petschel : 175 years of TU Dresden. Volume 3: The professors of the TU Dresden 1828–2003. Edited on behalf of the Society of Friends and Supporters of the TU Dresden e. V. von Reiner Pommerin , Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2003, ISBN 3-412-02503-8 , p. 403.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Irrgang, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German technology philosopher and ethicist
DATE OF BIRTH	August 22, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wurzburg