Subsequent to its successful introduction in several countries of the European Union, the contradiction solution for organ donation was debated in German Parliament. Despite numerous failed attempts in years prior, the Minister of Public Health sought to introduce a law stipulating each citizen be automatically considered an organ donor without their explicit consent being given. Only if the individual unequivocally and officially contradicted the mandate would they be exempt. While the draft law was ultimately rejected, this legislative initiative gave rise to a fundamental reflection on the meaning and inherent value of human life.
In 2019 Valerie Fickert was invited as a panel speaker on human dignity and the human future at the 29th World Congress of the International Association for the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy in Lucerne. There she met Friedrich Toepel, who was also considering a closer examination of the underlying conceptions of human life, including definitions of its beginning and end, and, in particular, the neurological determination of death established in the United States in 1968 (“brain death“).
Under the title Living and Dying With Dignity: On the Meaning and Inherent Value of Human Life the pair invite and welcome papers that will continue this intense conversation and broaden the fundamental ethical debate regarding the edges of human existence – a debate much needed in the face of modern reductions of life’s complexity. Just as theology was humbled after centuries of unquestioned authority in the Middle Ages, so too must medicine justify the implicit philosophical presuppositions of its everyday practice in dialogue with all the other academic disciplines.
TOPICS OF INTEREST:
- Values in medicine
- Human dignity
- Holistic approach vs. scientism
- Embodiment vs. analytic philosophy/cartesianism
- Situation ethics
- Utilitarianism
- Liberalism
- Life on the edges of human existence
- Political and legal process of defining life
- Brain death
- Organ donation
- Assisted suicide
TENTATIVE TIMELINE:
Manuscript Submission Deadline: October 15, 2022
GUEST EDITOR DETAILS:
Pfrin. Dr. Valerie Fickert
Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen
Reverend at the Lutheran Church
Prof. Dr. Friedrich Toepel
Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelms University of Bonn
Counsel at Denton`s
PEER REVIEW PROCESS:
All submitted manuscripts will undergo peer review, and will be reviewed by at two-to-three experts. A thorough check will be completed, and the Guest Editors will check any significant similarity between the manuscript under consideration and any
published paper or submitted manuscripts of which they are aware. In such case, the article will be directly rejected without proceeding further. Guest editors will make all reasonable effort to receive the reviewer’s comments and recommendation on time.
The submitted papers must provide original research that has not been published nor currently under review by other venues. Previously published conference papers should be clearly identified by the authors at the submission stage and an
explanation should be provided about how such papers have been extended to be considered for this special issue (with at least 30% difference from the original works).
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Paper submissions for the special issue should strictly follow the submission format and guidelines posted at https://peh-med.biomedcentral.com/submission-guidelines. Each manuscript should not exceed 16 pages in length (inclusive of figures and tables).
Manuscripts must be submitted to the journal online system at https://www.editorialmanager.com/pehm/default1.aspx. Authors should select the appropriate Collection Title during the submission step ‘Additional Information’.