Knowledge is critical to improving the human condition and experience, but how does it spread and adapt to circumstances worldwide? A recent research project, conducted at Georgetown using resources from the Bioethics Research Library, helps to illuminate that question by investigating the Kennedy Institute of Ethics’s impact on the development of the field of bioethics in Germany.
Mathias Schütz, head of the Department of History of Medicine at Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, spent several months in 2021 as a visiting researcher at the Bioethics Research Library. “My research was and is inspired by the question of how knowledge moves between nations and professions, and what gets lost and gained in the process,” he said. His research at Georgetown was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service.
Of particular interest is what he describes as the “intertwined histories” of American bioethics and German medical ethics since the 1970s. KIE has been a pioneer in the field of bioethics and a leading international voice since it was founded in 1971, so it was an important source of information.
Before Schütz’s visit, he consulted with John Zarrillo, bioethics archivist and reference librarian, to identify records that were likely to be relevant and ensure that Schütz would be able to access them in the reading room in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections. “I also prioritized processing records that I thought would be relevant because I wanted to make sure he was able to see as much relevant material as possible while he was here,” Zarrillo said.
Schütz initially focused his research on German participants in the “Extended German Bioethics Courses” and other courses offered by the KIE from 1987–95. Dozens of German physicians, scientists, academics, and even politicians attended these courses. Records included syllabi, speakers, conceptual considerations, and even reflections that accompanied the German participation. “In the course of my research, my focus widened and I spent more and more attention on related developments, such as the attempts to establish similar programs for other regions, countries, and professions,” Schütz noted. Of particular value to these efforts were the papers of late KIE directors Edmund Pellegrino and Robert Veatch.
“I found much more material than I could have hoped for even in the most optimistic of scenarios,” Schütz said. “I have to thank John Zarrillo for the exemplary order and accessibility of the KIE’s documents, and the staff at the BRL and the Booth Family Center for Special Collections were very supportive and assisted me whenever it was necessary.”
Schütz published the first results of his research in the Journal of Contemporary History.
KIE’s visiting researcher program dates back to the Institute’s founding and has been international in nature from its inception. See the KIE page for more details about the visiting researcher program.