ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the state of the art of the responsibility debate regarding synthetic biology and extends this by applying the framework of problem-oriented ethics and responsibility. It gives a brief introduction of synthetic biology and its roots in nanobiotechnology. The chapter also reviews the societal and ethical debate, including considerations of opportunities and risks based on the results of projects on ethical, legal, and social aspects and on technology assessment studies. It elaborates on the ethical issues, which demarcate normative uncertainty at the occasion of focal items of ethics, such as the moral status of created organisms. The chapter analyses the responsibility configuration of synthetic biology through the lens of the empirical, ethical, and epistemic dimension model. It includes a hermeneutic consideration of the changing relationship between technology, nature, and life, considering implications and repercussions for the notion and understanding of life itself.
