Autonomy and Trust in Modern Medicine. Knowledge - Practice - Norm

Patients' right to self-determination is rightly held in high esteem in liberal and individualized societies. In a highly complex world defined by scientific and technological rationalities, autonomous agency can only increase when individuals develop trust in persons and trust in systems.

As autonomy is acknowledged as a key concept in modern liberal societies the same must be true of trust as antagonist and complement of autonomy. The research project focuses on approaches that attempt to understand autonomy and trust in the medical context relationally and socially. We will examine how patient self-determination on one hand and interpersonal trust and trust in social systems on the other depend on each other, how they are generated or undermined and how they are justified. We will, in particular, explore the role of organisations and institutions - like the hospital - and collective actors - like the family or patients groups. Which role do they play regarding interpretation and realization of trust and autonomy in medicine?

Seven mutually interdependent research projects from philosophy, medical law, theology, medical ethics and medicine will address these questions on a theoretical and conceptual level: