![]() ![]() ![]() Ethical lapses in research can significantly harm human and animal subjects, students, and the public. People are more likely to fund a research project if they can trust the quality and integrity of research.įinally, many of the norms of research promote a variety of other important moral and social values, such as social responsibility, human rights, animal welfare, compliance with the law, and public health and safety. For instance, federal policies on research misconduct, conflicts of interest, the human subjects protections, and animal care and use are necessary in order to make sure that researchers who are funded by public money can be held accountable to the public.įourth, ethical norms in research also help to build public support for research. Third, many of the ethical norms help to ensure that researchers can be held accountable to the public. ![]() Most researchers want to receive credit for their contributions and do not want to have their ideas stolen or disclosed prematurely. For example, many ethical norms in research, such as guidelines for authorship, copyright and patenting policies, data sharing policies, and confidentiality rules in peer review, are designed to protect intellectual property interests while encouraging collaboration. Second, since research often involves a great deal of cooperation and coordination among many different people in different disciplines and institutions, ethical standards promote the values that are essential to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness. ![]() While an economist might examine the cost and benefits of various policies related to global warming, an environmental ethicist could examine the ethical values and principles at stake. For instance, in considering a complex issue like global warming, one may take an economic, ecological, political, or ethical perspective on the problem. One may also define ethics as a method, procedure, or perspective for deciding how to act and for analyzing complex problems and issues. For example, a "medical ethicist" is someone who studies ethical standards in medicine. Peaceful civil disobedience is an ethical way of protesting laws or expressing political viewpoints.Īnother way of defining 'ethics' focuses on the disciplines that study standards of conduct, such as philosophy, theology, law, psychology, or sociology. Indeed, in the last century, many social reformers have urged citizens to disobey laws they regarded as immoral or unjust laws. We can also use ethical concepts and principles to criticize, evaluate, propose, or interpret laws. An action may be legal but unethical or illegal but ethical. Although most societies use laws to enforce widely accepted moral standards and ethical and legal rules use similar concepts, ethics and law are not the same. Most societies also have legal rules that govern behavior, but ethical norms tend to be broader and more informal than laws. For example, two people could agree that murder is wrong but disagree about the morality of abortion because they have different understandings of what it means to be a human being. One plausible explanation of these disagreements is that all people recognize some common ethical norms but interpret, apply, and balance them in different ways in light of their own values and life experiences. Learn more about Environmental science Basics On the other hand, if morality were nothing more than commonsense, then why are there so many ethical disputes and issues in our society?Īlternative test methods are methods that replace, reduce, or refine animal use in research and testing Ethical norms are so ubiquitous that one might be tempted to regard them as simple commonsense. Although most people acquire their sense of right and wrong during childhood, moral development occurs throughout life and human beings pass through different stages of growth as they mature. Most people learn ethical norms at home, at school, in church, or in other social settings. This is the most common way of defining "ethics": norms for conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. When most people think of ethics (or morals), they think of rules for distinguishing between right and wrong, such as the Golden Rule ("Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"), a code of professional conduct like the Hippocratic Oath ("First of all, do no harm"), a religious creed like the Ten Commandments ("Thou Shalt not kill."), or a wise aphorisms like the sayings of Confucius. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |