About the Centre for Ethics

The Centre for Ethics of the University of Tartu was established in June 2001 as an interdisciplinary unit within the Faculty of Philosophy. Starting from January 1st 2009, the Centre for Ethics is a consortium. The faculties that participate in our work are as follows: faculty of arts and humanities, faculty of social sciences, faculty of medicine and faculty of science and technology.

The Centre is governed by the Board with members from all of the faculties listed above and a representative of the students. The Centre also has an International Board of Trustees.

The Centre aims to:

• Organize interdisciplinary research regarding the ethical issues pertaining to science, society and research activities;
• Further reflections upon norms, values and questions of justice in the Estonian society through organizing public lectures, meetings, seminars and discussions;
• Coordinate and improve the teaching of ethics at the University of Tartu, and prepare, compile and publish anthologies and textbooks on ethics;
• Develop contacts with other ethics centres and organize visits by guest lecturers.

Ethics deals with values, norms, and virtues, good and evil, right and wrong. Ethics concerns everything we say or leave unsaid, everything we do or fail to do, who we are, and what we value. Therefore, ethics is important for all of us. A more detailed overview of different fields of ethics can be found on the Ethics Web.