Research activities
The main directions we have taken in our research are normative ethics; moral and political philosophy of the early modern era; bioethics and medical ethics; environmental ethics; ethics of science; ethics of information and communication technologies.
Among questions of theoretical ethics, we have been interested in the sources of normativity and pluralism of values; connections between morals and human nature; moral emotions and moral motivation.
In the area of practical ethics, our main research topics have been questions of informed consent; privacy and security; fairness and trust; the ethical, social, and legal aspects of genetic databases, e-health databases, and the application of biometric technologies.
Through our participation in various international research projects, we have substantially increased our network of cooperation partners, and are engaged in collaborative work with numerous centres in Europe, as well as in the USA and Asia. The international research conferences and seminars organized by the Centre for Ethics have brought renowned scholars to Tartu, and allowed many of those interested in ethics to take part in discussions at a top international level.