Katharina Schumann

Received her M.A. in Educational Science, Phonetics/Phonology and Biology at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena. M.A. thesis on the free will. Teaching fellow in neuroscience and pedagogy. Since April recipient of a scholarship from the DFG at the Postgraduate Program “Bioethics”. Title of PhD Thesis: “The designed Child?” – The idea of the Child in Educational Science, Neuroscience and Genetics

The research question of this doctoral thesis is, whether the child is seen as a “designable” object. Design means: “a plan or scheme conceived in the mind and intended for subsequent execution” (Oxford English Dictionary). If this is the case, the child is understood not as primarily its own source of evolution, but as an object influenceable and controllable by outside forces (with normative connotation and persuasive power this influence and control could be not only supported, but also considered as mandatory).The exploration in three different scientific disciplines (Educational Science, Neuroscience and Genetics) has at its core the same central question, thus contributing to interdisciplinary Science Research and providing a comparison and an ethical evaluation. The central questions are: What are the existing conceptions about the current state and the target state of the child? Which means are chosen to achieve that target state? How are these means evaluated? I use the hermeneutic method and some elements of qualitative content analysis.