Altruism Reconsidered

Dr Michael Steinmann is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. Prior to this, he taught philosophy at the Pennsylvania State University and was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Tubingen, where he was involved in several projects on problems of biotechnological innovation, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. He is the co-author of a book on standards in clinical studies. His research interests include standards of rationality and the plurality of values in bioethics. Professor Dr Peter Sÿkora holds the Chair of Philosophy at the University of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Trnava. He is a member of the National Ethics Committee, Vice-Chairman of the National UNESCO Bioethics Committee in Slovakia and is included in the UNESCO Global Ethics Observatory database of ethics experts. His research interests include the conceptualization of human nature and the early human embryo, ethics of stem cell research and PGD, infanticide, ethnicity, and evolution theory. Professor Dr Urban Wiesing holds the Chair of Medical Ethics at the University of Tubingen and is Director of the Institute of Ethics and History of Medicine. Professor Wiesing is also Chairman of the Institutional Review Board of the Faculty of Medicine and deputy member of the IRB Board of Physicians of Baden-Wurttemberg. He is also Chairman of the Central Ethics Committee at the Federal Board of Physicians. His fields of research include ethical and philosophical implications of genetic screening, reproductive medicine and genetics, and research ethics.