From an engineering perspective, synthetic biology deals with the possibilities of constructing and assembling living, modular ‘building blocks’, which could ultimately lead to the creation of living organisms from previously non-living materials. While there is currently still a lack of a standardised and approved definition, the field encompasses a wide range of research interests and areas of application, such as the construction of biological sensors and the optimisation of metabolic processes, as well as basic research and the targeted ‘development’ of life itself.

From an ethical perspective, synthetic biology poses a number of problems, some of which are of a previously unprecedented dimension. While on the one hand it is intended to find answers to the previously controversial question of what distinguishes the living from the non-living according to the principle ‘What I cannot create, I do not understand’ (Richard Feynman) in the process of creating artificial, living entities, such a distinction is increasingly being blurred on the basis of previously established criteria, as in synthetic biology processes various components of living organisms (at subcellular level) can be recombined at will and linked to dead matter. Livingness as an ethically relevant quality thus potentially loses its significance, which is further intensified by the mechanistic-functional approach of the engineering sciences. It is also feared that it will no longer be possible to distinguish between natural and artificial entities, as the former will be utilised to produce the latter. In this context, the question is once again raised as to what role humans (should) play in the natural system as a whole, as their influence in manipulating organisms at their most fundamental level and even completely recreating them is on an unprecedented scale. In addition to these aspects, an assessment of the consequences of the use of different technologies in the field of synthetic biology is also not or only partially possible, as the area of knowledge has not yet been sufficiently developed.