Scientific Ethics - Greensburg Salem School District
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Transcript Scientific Ethics - Greensburg Salem School District
“Relativity applies to physics, not ethics.”
- Albert Einstein
To
discuss and understand the different
dimensions of scientific ethics.
• What are some of the ethical issues facing scientists?
Policy makers?
• When is self-regulation by the scientific community
of its conduct impossible or undesirable?
Where
is the focus of scientific and
technological ethics?
Why is ethics important?
Who decides what is ethical/not ethical?
“Ethics is knowing the difference between what you
have a right to do and what is the right thing to do.”
- Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart
Ethics
• “1 ...the discipline dealing with what is
good and bad and with moral duty and
obligation
• 2 a: a set of moral principles and values b:
a theory or system of moral values c: the
principles of conduct governing an
individual or a group.”
(Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield,
Mass.: G. & C. Merriam Company. 1975)
Family
Religion
Schools
Employers
Moral
Leaders
Philosophers
Teleology
Consequence ethics
Determination of rightness or wrongness based on
consequences
Will the action produce more good than bad?
Altruism
Utilitarianism
Egoism
Deontology
Personal Ethics
Duty ethics
Certain actions are inherently or intrinsically right or wrong –
regardless of consequences
Ex. Telling lies are intrinsically wrong.
Instinct
Conscience
Emotion
Intuition
Religion
Ethical
issues can generally be clarified
when the following are considered:
• Facts of the situation.
• Who is affected? What are their interests?
• Key concepts, criteria and principles (ex. What is
life?).
• Ethical Theories and Arguments
Conflicts
of Interest and
Scientific Misconduct:
• Fabrication
Changing Data – “Lying”
• Falsification
Making Up Data – “Cheating”
• Plagiarism
Using words/ideas without proper
citations – “Copying”
Medicine
• Gene Therapy
• Cloning
• Stem Cell Research
Military
• WMD
• Nuclear Testing
• Human Experimentation
Economics
• Pollution for Profit
Violation of Established World Orders (Natural or
Social Order of Things)
• Ex. Genetic Engineering, In Vitro Fertilization
Violations of Supposedly Exception less Moral
Principles
• Ex. Human life must always be preserved (Dr. Kavorkian),
Action that destroy innocent civilians (War), Human must
not be treated as a mean to an end (harvesting fetal tissue)
Distribution of Science or Technology Related
Benefits
• Ex. Medical benefits – diagnostic, surgery, therapeutic
Infliction of Harm or Exposure to Significant Risks
of Harm without Prior Consent
• Ex. Animal testing, maintenance of carcinogen-containing
workplaces, cross-border/multi-generational pollution
Science or Technology-Engendered “Positive
Rights”
• Ex. Human life preservation, death with dignity, genetic
testing
Aggregation
• Small transgressions aggregate to cause
significant problems
Ex. Pollution of individual car vs. hundreds of millions
of cars
Practitioner Problems
• “Professional Ethics”
• Who is making the ethical decisions?
Distribution
Justice
• Should a project be given approval if there is a
risk to anyone within impact area?
Ex. Construction of hydroelectric dam
Whistle
Blowing
• Poor design, testing, false results, faulty
development, etc.
Ex. O-rings in Challenger
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/22/nation/la-nachallenger-anniversary-20110123
Consideration
of Long-Term effects
• Ex. Nuclear waste, Obsolescence
Developments
in science requires
revisions in traditional ethical thinking
and decision making.
How
do you believe this will change?
“Science cannot stop while ethics catches up – and
nobody should expect scientists to do all the thinking
for the country.”
-Elvin Stackman
Discuss:
• “Ethics in Science: Dissecting the Dilemmas,”
UAB Magazine
Ethics
Group Discussion/Debate:
• Newborn Screening
Moral Dilemma
Chemical A or Chemical B?