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.
Problems of Science and Technology Research Environment and Its Tasks: Focused on the cases of young scientists and engineers
