• Question: As importance as ethics are for making sure no harm comes to humanity, do you think that ethics gets in the way of science??

    Asked by kashif to Chris, Emily, Martin, Natalie, Tamsin on 24 Mar 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Chris Cooper

      Chris Cooper answered on 24 Mar 2010:

      Nice question! It depends what you mean by “gets in the way”.

      At a crude level if I were like the Nazis and could do live experiments on people with no pain relief, I could learn more about some parts of science. So in that sense ethics clearly “gets in the way” of progress. But this is is an extreme example and ethical constraints are very little hindrance most of the time.

      However, more importantly I think ethics is intricately linked into all we do in life. This is whether we are scientists pushing the boundaries or bankers ruining the economy. So to think of it as “getting in the way” is wrong. We should all think about ethics in our work and our home life. As science is a human activity it should be conducted with as much ethical care as any other thing we do.

    • Photo: Martin Coath

      Martin Coath answered on 24 Mar 2010:

      Absolutely not!

      Science is a HUMAN endevour and when we forget that we put ourselves in danger. We must not forget we are people first and scientists second.

      Ethical considerations guide, and it is true sometimes limit, scientific investigation. But this is as it should be. This applies to everything we do or we are on a short road to disaster.

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