Rehmann-Sutter, Christoph

Seminar Title: 

Affiliation: 

University of Lübeck

Country: 

Germany

1. Current Status, Position

Mr Rehmann-Sutter is Professor of Theory and Ethics in the Biosciences.

2. Education

  • 1978-89: First training in Molecular Biology with a Diploma from the Biocenter at the University of Basel (Switzerland), then a second full training with a "Lizentiat"; in Philosophy and Sociology at the Universities of Basel and Freiburg im Breisgau;
  • 1990-1995: Doctoral dissertation in Philosophy at the Technical University of Darmstadt (supervisor: Professor Gernot Böhme). 1995-2000 
Habilitation (venia legendi) for Philosophy at the University of Basel; 


  • There, since 1996: 
Establishment and direction of the Unit for Ethics in the Biosciences;
  • 2001-2009: President of the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics. Elected by the Swiss Government, advising the Swiss parliament and government in matters of bioethics, governance of human biotechnologies and ethics of medicine;
  • Since 2009 at the University of Lübeck.

3. Research Area

  • General bioethics in a governance perspective;
  • Philosophical foundations of ethics;
  • Development of methods for a hermeneutic and phenomenological approach to bioethics;
  • Integration of qualitative social research (interviews and focus groups, using Ground Theory and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis) with normative bioethics;
  • Special fields of interest: end-of-life care and end-of-live decision making; genetics and genomics in the context of patients’ life worlds; children and families in ethics.

Conflict of interest: None