“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?