Der menschliche Körper als Gemeinsames Erbe der Menschheit

This research study is intended to provide a decidedly political perspective on a topic that is otherwise primarily examined in legal and ethical disciplines: the question of ownership of the human body. It is analysed here using the example of the ownership of human tissue that is used in biomedicine for research purposes as well as in therapeutics and the diagnosis of diseases. The aim of the work is to develop a logically consistent and politically acceptable understanding of human tissue as humankind’s common heritage. For this to be possible—according to one of the work’s central theses—the entire human body must be understood as humankind’s common heritage and not just as human tissue.