The Concept of Moral Consensus

Books do not come about by accident. This is especially the case when a volume grows out of a conference for which the participants wrote the original contributions in different languages. This volume descends from a conference held at the Zentrumjiir interdiszipliniire Forschung, University of Bielefeld, Germany, October 4 through 6, 1990, under the title "Technische Eingriffe in die menschliche Reproduktion: Per- spektiven eines moralischen Konsenses". Many with great generosity helped to ensure that the conference was a success and that the papers presented grew into a book. We want in particular to acknowledge our deep gratitude to the Zentrumjiir interdiszipliniire Forschung for spon- soring this important conference, and to its director, Peter Weingart, for his important guidance and support. Our thanks are also due to all of the staff ofthe Zentrum. It is they who made the conference successful. We are also grateful to Prof. Hilmar Stolte, head of the Institut jiir System- und Technologieanalysen in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, for making available additional financial support for the conference. Our thanks are also owed to the participants who inspired us to transform a collection of papers into a completed volume. The general trans- formation of the original papers required translation. Here we must acknowledge the labors of Sarah L. Kirkby, who rendered many parts of the volume into English. Finally, we want to recognize the invaluable support given by the ecumenical teamwork of Kurt W.