[Relational anthropology--ethical challenges in caring for demented people].

In the light of demographic change, Alzheimer's disease must be regarded as a particular challenge to modern societies. Thereby, contemporary discourse is dominated by a specific concept of dementia which can be traced back to the field of human medicine. The taking over of models and concepts from human medicine in public discourse implied a methodological reductionism. From an ethical perspective the respective process is particularly significant because of its anthropological reductionism which leads to imbalanced evaluations and unsuitability. By contrast, this contribution proceeds from a holistic anthropology and suggests to conceptualize dementia in terms of human relationships. It is only from such a perspective that a reasonable discussion of ethical challenges which go along with giving care to people suffering from dementia becomes possible.