Virtue Ethics and the Social Responsibilities of Researchers*

2021 ◽  
pp. 245-268
Author(s):  
Mark Bourgeois
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Ethics Training ◽  
Technology Research ◽  
Engineering Research ◽  
Social Responsibilities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scientists And Engineers ◽  
Conducting Research

Traditional ethics training for scientists and engineers stresses the basic ethical obligations of conducting research with honesty and integrity. But as the products of science and engineering research impact society in increasingly profound ways, major ethical issues closely connected to science and technology research are not captured, or even approached, by such training. As the powers conferred on us by science and technology research grow, and their impacts on society become increasingly conspicuous, it is past time that ethics training for scientists and engineers evolve to embrace the social responsibilities related to research. Following on experiences developing and deploying an advanced social-responsibilities-of-research program for doctoral STEM students at the University of Notre Dame, this chapter argues that the virtue ethics tradition provides essential conceptual resources both to frame and then to provide training in the social responsibilities of research.

scholarly journals PROBLEMS AND PROSPECT OF ETHICAL ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND APPLICATION OF TECHNOLOGY AND FORMULATION OF POLICIES FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
Everestus Onoyima ◽  
◽  
Gloria Enebe ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Cultural Pluralism ◽  
Ripple Effect ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
Ethical Imperative ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
Almost All

The degree at which some issues can be meaningfully discussed ethically arises from the nature of the issue at hand. Some issues are axiomatic, ambiguous and controversial mainly because there are evidence in dispute. In scientific research, and in the development and applications of technology, notably live saving technology. Scientists are confronted with ethical problems in their choice of research and education, and in ways and manner they deal with publications and media. The application of science and technology has chain of causes and effect on almost all areas of our lives. The social media, the globalization, the growing cultural pluralism, conflict and war. The development of new weapons, non-sustainable development, depletion of resources, and environmental degradation. Many of these possibilities that are opened by science and technology are harmful and retrogressive. Though, science also proffers possible improved living conditions, improved healthcare, and more awareness of the needs of people in other parts of the world and greater possibilities to assist them. However, the ethical gurus may lack the wherewithal to tackle some of the problems identified in terms of science and technology, they may still be able to say something useful about whether it is acceptable to indulge in a given risk such as stem cell research, GMO research, euthanasia, abortion, falsifying of data and other forms of research that may involve a colossal damage that could have some ripple effect on society and the environment. Ethical literacy, ethical imperative and Ethical bargain becomes a tool at hand.

Integrating Virtue Ethics into Responsible-Conduct-of-Research Programs: Challenges and Opportunities

2021 ◽  
pp. 225-244
Author(s):  
Jiin-Yu Chen
Keyword(s):  
Research Ethics ◽  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Responsible Conduct Of Research ◽  
Federal Regulations ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Ethics Framework ◽  
Responsible Conduct ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Conducting Research

In response to federal regulations, institutions created a multitude of responsible-conduct-of-research (RCR) education programs to teach novice researchers about ethical issues that may arise in the course of their research and how to avoid or address them. Many RCR education programs strive to help familiarize trainees with some of the areas in which issues in research ethics and integrity develop and help shape trainees into researchers who conduct their work with integrity. However, the compliance aspect of RCR education programs presents fundamental challenges to the programs’ aspirational goals. Adopting a virtue ethics framework can contribute to RCR education programs’ pursuit of those goals by drawing attention to the ways in which researchers’ characters contribute to conducting research with integrity. Further, virtue ethics can contribute to the development of a virtuous researcher through incorporation into both the formal RCR curriculum and through more informal means, such as mentoring.

Ethical Issues Relevant to the Assessment of Suicide Risk in Nonclinical Research Settings

Crisis ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn M. Wilson ◽  
Bruce K. Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Suicide Risk ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
Schizotypal Personality ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Genetic Features ◽  
Conducting Research

Background: Our laboratory recently confronted this issue while conducting research with undergraduate students at the University of Waterloo (UW). Although our main objective was to examine cognitive and genetic features of individuals with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), the study protocol also entailed the completion of various self-report measures to identify participants deemed at increased risk for suicide. Aims and Methods: This paper seeks to review and discuss the relevant ethical guidelines and legislation that bear upon a psychologist’s obligation to further assess and intervene when research participants reveal that they are at increased risk for suicide. Results and Conclusions: In the current paper we argue that psychologists are ethically impelled to assess and appropriately intervene in cases of suicide risk, even when such risk is revealed within a research context. We also discuss how any such obligation may potentially be modulated by the research participant’s expectations of the role of a psychologist, within such a context. Although the focus of the current paper is on the ethical obligations of psychologists, specifically those practicing within Canada, the relevance of this paper extends to all regulated health professionals conducting research in nonclinical settings.

Driving Taiwanese science and technology research

Impact ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (6) ◽  
pp. 4-5
Author(s):  
Dar-Bin Shieh
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Technology Research ◽  
Technological Research ◽  
Deputy Minister

Professor Dar-Bin Shieh, Deputy Minister at the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology, shares with us details of the efforts undertaken at the Ministry to promote and support scientific and technological research and development in Taiwan, including his response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Pandemic Disease, Public Health, and Ethics

2019 ◽  
pp. 796-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell Smith ◽  
Ross Upshur
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Pandemic Preparedness ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Face ◽  
Conducting Research

Infectious disease pandemics raise significant and novel ethical challenges to the organization and practice of public health. This chapter provides an overview of the salient ethical issues involved in preparing for and responding to pandemic disease, including those arising from deploying restrictive public health measures to contain and curb the spread of disease (e.g., isolation and quarantine), setting priorities for the allocation of scarce resources, health care workers’ duty to care in the face of heightened risk of infection, conducting research during pandemics, and the global governance of preventing and responding to pandemic disease. It also outlines ethical guidance from prominent ethical frameworks that have been developed to address these ethical issues and concludes by discussing some pressing challenges that must be addressed if ethical reflection is to make a meaningful difference in pandemic preparedness and response.

scholarly journals Ethical Issues in Consent for the Reuse of Data in Health Data Platforms

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex McKeown ◽  
Miranda Mourby ◽  
Paul Harrison ◽  
Sophie Walker ◽  
Mark Sheehan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Personalised Medicine ◽  
Data Reuse ◽  
Remote Access ◽  
Risk Indicators ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Thinking ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractData platforms represent a new paradigm for carrying out health research. In the platform model, datasets are pooled for remote access and analysis, so novel insights for developing better stratified and/or personalised medicine approaches can be derived from their integration. If the integration of diverse datasets enables development of more accurate risk indicators, prognostic factors, or better treatments and interventions, this obviates the need for the sharing and reuse of data; and a platform-based approach is an appropriate model for facilitating this. Platform-based approaches thus require new thinking about consent. Here we defend an approach to meeting this challenge within the data platform model, grounded in: the notion of ‘reasonable expectations’ for the reuse of data; Waldron’s account of ‘integrity’ as a heuristic for managing disagreement about the ethical permissibility of the approach; and the element of the social contract that emphasises the importance of public engagement in embedding new norms of research consistent with changing technological realities. While a social contract approach may sound appealing, however, it is incoherent in the context at hand. We defend a way forward guided by that part of the social contract which requires public approval for the proposal and argue that we have moral reasons to endorse a wider presumption of data reuse. However, we show that the relationship in question is not recognisably contractual and that the social contract approach is therefore misleading in this context. We conclude stating four requirements on which the legitimacy of our proposal rests.

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