Understanding of Conscience in the German Parliament: Ethical Implications for Voting without Party Discipline with Special Consideration of Bioethical Issues

干细胞研究、生前遗嘱或以商业方式推动自杀：近年来，德国联邦议院关于生物伦理问题的投票一直被明确宣布为良心决定，议会议员已从党派纪律中解脱出来。在该项目中，良心概念是联邦德国政治制度中议会决策的核心，作为理解授权的核心，从神学-哲学的角度对其在德国联邦议院中的使用进行了审查。其目的是为进一步的辩论奠定基础，并开始反思良知概念的使用。为此，自联邦德国成立以来的唱名表决将开放，并将审查与解除党的纪律的频率和投票主题有关的变化。在1960-1979年和2000-2019年期间，议员们对良心的理解将建立在先前阐述的良心概念紧张两极的基础上。这些紧张的两极是从对哲学、神学和心理学文献的分析中获得的，补充了Schaed/Moos(2015)的草案。通过展示国会议员对良知的理解体现了哪些两极紧张，哪些没有被考虑在内，得出了良知理解的成就和限度。该项目的结果将发布在一个普遍可以理解的出版物上，并将伴随着播客，让更广泛的公众了解结果。该项目的一部分也是一个跨学科讲习班，在该讲习班上，将讨论第一年形成的紧张极，然后利用紧张极描述议员对良知的理解。在项目接近尾声时，计划召开一次跨学科会议，其中最重要的讨论结果将载入出版物。

Stem cell research, living wills or the businesslike promotion of suicide: In recent years, votes on bioethical issues in the German Bundestag have consistently been explicitly declared to be decisions of conscience and Members of Parliament (MPs) have been released from party discipline.In the project, the concept of conscience, which is central to parliamentary decision-making in the political system of the FRG as the core of the understanding of the mandate, is examined from a theological-philosophical perspective in the context of its use in the German Bundestag. The aim is to create a basis for further debate as well as to initiate a reflection on the use of the concept of conscience. To this end, the roll-call votes since the founding of the FRG, which were explicitly declared to be decisions of conscience without party discipline across party lines, will be opened up and changes in relation to the frequency of the lifting of party discipline as well as the subjects of the votes will be examined.For the periods 1960-1979 and 2000-2019, the MPs' understandings of conscience will be developed on the basis of previously elaborated poles of tension of the concept of conscience. These poles of tension are obtained from an analysis of the philosophical, theological and psychological literature, complementing a draft by Schaede/Moos (2015). The achievements and limits of the understandings of conscience are worked out by showing which of the poles of tension are represented in the MPs' understandings of conscience and which are not taken into account.The results of the project will be published in a generally understandable publication, which will be accompanied by a podcast to make the results accessible to a broader public. Part of the project is also an interdisciplinary workshop in which the poles of tension developed in the first year will be discussed before the MPs' understandings of conscience are characterised with the help of the poles of tension. Towards the end of the project, an interdisciplinary conference is planned, the most important discussion results of which will find their way into the publication.