Centre for Ethics and Responsibility (ZEV)
Prof Gert Scobel
Adjunct Professor for interdisciplinarity and philosophy/Member of the Directorate "Centre for Ethics and Responsibility"
Unit
Centre for Ethics and Responsibility (ZEV)
Location
Sankt Augustin
Room
H 008
Address
Grantham Allee 20
53757 Sankt Augustin
Profile
My work focuses on questions of philosophy of science, history of science, ethics and media - especially with regard to the questions raised by the complexity of life and the use of "self-learning" algorithms and "artificial intelligence".
The work takes place in the context of the ZEV ("Centre for Ethics and Responsibility"), which was founded in spring 2018. One of ZEV's tasks is to clarify the question of what the responsibility of scientists, but also of all students who are educated at a university, is - especially in technical fields. This responsibility, which we all have as citizens, relates not only directly to the respective fields of study (i.e. to research and teaching, for example in the form of scientific ethics in the narrower sense), but above all to the comprehensive responsibility that we have towards society and nature, companies, industry, politics and other areas of life.
I am also responsible for a philosophically oriented YouTube channel scobel, which is also dedicated to current scientific and social issues and was awarded the audience prize of the Grimme Online Award in 2022. scobel, my interdisciplinary TV science programme on 3sat, has been around since 2008. Since 2013, I have been a member of the programme management of Phil.Cologne, the International Festival of Philosophy in Cologne, which I co-founded.
TEACHING ACTIVITIES
In 2008, 2011 and 2014, I was a lecturer at the University of Duisburg (NRW School of Governance) in the field of political science on the topics of "Politics as a complex system", "Political actors and strategic communication in modern societies: modern decision-making and participation as a strategic challenge to party democracy" and "Monitored freedom? Net politics as a digital challenge". In 2012 and 2013, I was a guest lecturer at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg in the field of technology journalism and in 2013, together with Prof Thomas Christaller (Director Fraunhofer IAIS Sankt Augustin) and Prof Bettina Bläsing (Bielefeld University), I chaired the Interdisciplinary Campus 2013 (IK2013) in Günne (focus topic "Wicked Problems, Complexity and Wisdom"). In the winter semester 2018/2019, I took over the Mercator Foundation Visiting Professorship for Policy Management at the NRW School of Governance.
Curriculum vitae
Gert Scobel studied theology and philosophy in Frankfurt am Main and Berkeley, California, and was accepted into the German National Academic Foundation during his studies.
After briefly teaching as part of an intercultural research project at the University of San Francisco, he worked at FAZ magazine and in radio broadcasting.
From 1988-1989, he completed a bi-media traineeship at Hessischer Rundfunk, specialising in culture and science, and then worked as a freelance cultural journalist in various media (radio, television and print, including essays for FAZ magazine). As an author and director, he realised various TV documentaries and television features for ARD, HR and WDR (including on ethics in business and industry as well as on brain research and artificial intelligence research).
From 1995 to 2014, he presented the daily culture programme Kulturzeit (3sat) as an anchorman for ARD. From July 2001 to July 2003, Scobel was also anchorman of the ARD morning programme.
He was also presenter of the WDR TV literature magazine "Leselust", the literature magazine "Bücher Bücher" on Hessischer Rundfunk and, from 2003, hosted the ZDF programme"Sonntag - TV für`s Leben" as well as three seasons of the series Nächster Halt (Kika), a philosophy and science programme for children and young people, which he co-founded along with the magazine Nano (3sat).
Since 2004, Scobel has been editorial director and presenter at ZDF: initially of the interdisciplinary programme "Δelta" and from April 2008 of the subsequent interdisciplinary culture and science programme scobel (both 3sat). He is also the presenter of the literature programme 3satBuchzeit. Scobel is a columnist in the magazine "Philosophie Magazin" and "moment by moment" as well as a co-founder and member of the editorial team of the annual philosophy festival "Phil.Cologne", which has been held in Cologne since 2013. He is the author of several non-fiction books and has been a member of the PEN Centre Germany since 2016.
Projects
Life in the complex: How can we understand an increasingly complex lifeworld and deal with this complexity in a sustainable way?
Wisdom research in the context of complex environments: Directly related to the issue of complexity is the elaboration of a contemporary theory and practice of wisdom, including aspects of mindfulness research and meditation.
Ethics of algorithms: What does an ethical foundation for AI, information and our information society look like?
Further Information
EICOS SCHOLARSHIP
During his journalistic work, Scobel has twice been awarded a European EICOS fellowship (European Initiative for Communicators of Science) for science journalists: in 1997 at the Max Planck Institute for Neuroscience (Martinsried) and in 2006 at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (Göttingen) and at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot (Israel).
PRIZES
- German Television Award (Best Information Programme), 1999
- Bavarian Television Award, 2001
- "Cultural Journalist of the Year" (Medium Magazin), 2005
- Nominated for the German Television Award together with Lutz Hachmeister for the ZDF documentary "Ich, Marcel Reich-Ranicki", 2007
- Grimme Prize in the "special" category for editing and presenting the programme "Δelta" and for presenting "Kulturzeit" (2005) and the special award from the German Adult Education Association for the exemplary use of television as a mass medium "to strengthen the democratic opinion-forming process in society" (2017)