AG Heinzelmann Ethics lab
The lab enables researchers to investigate empirical questions related to ethics, including areas such as moral psychology, action theory, applied ethics, or epistemology. Available tools include qualitative interviews, quantitative surveys, computer-based interactions, and virtual reality.
Research Projects
Ethical judgements in healthcare decisions
Philosophical ethics has largely employed quantitative methods—such as vignette-based "trolleyology"—to empirically investigate moral decision-making. Arguably, a more conversational methodology may better capture the nuanced reasoning involved in complex ethical issues. In a first step, this project uses qualitative methods to explore the role of ethical concerns in healthcare decisions, drawing on expertise from sociology, public health, and philosophy. In a second step, we shall employ survey methods to quantify the extent to which ethical concerns affect healthcare decisions.
Participating researchers: Alec Cali (Heidelberg Institute for Global Health/HIGH), Till Bärnighausen (HIGH), Nir Eyal (Rutgers), Nora Heinzelmann (Heidelberg)
Ethical judgements in social deliberation
Participatory and deliberative practices have sometimes been regarded as beacons of hope for democracies. However, empirical evidence is mixed regarding the extent to which—and the conditions under which—such practices fulfill their normative ideals. This project connects social science and philosophy to investigate the mechanisms of deliberation. We conducted a field study at a consumer conference in Germany, which focused on the ethical and social implications of emerging genetic technologies.
Participating researchers: Leonie Dendler (German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment), Nora Heinzelmann (Heidelberg)
The ethics and moral psychology of vaccines
The COVID-19 pandemic and the new mRNA vaccines that helped contain it have brought ethical concerns about vaccines into the forefront of public debate and policy-making. This collaboration builds on an interdisciplinary, third-party-funded project on the ethics and moral psychology of vaccination, which found that an individual's values play a key role in vaccination intentions. It draws on expertise from biology and philosophy to investigate possible interventions in decisions regarding novel vaccines.
Participating researchers: Alejandra Petino Zappala (Heidelberg), Nora Heinzelmann (Heidelberg)