Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

IV. Ethics
was the wartime head of the Los
Oppenheimer
Laboratory and a key contributor to the
Alamos
bomb, a development that has captured
atomic
ethical imagination of humankind. The
the
power that comes with and through
obvious
necessitates robust ethics. This is
science
true when modern science deals with
especially
visible ethical dilemmas as those presented
such
genetic manipulation, nuclear power and life
by
to name but a few. Consider also the
extension,
questions that arise from humankind’s
moral
on Earth in the Anthropocene, as outlined
impact
is not concerned with discerning right
TOK
wrong within science, but rather in the
from
issues involved in ethical claims. For
knowledge
whether scientists should be allowed
instance,
experiment on animals is an important ethical
to
but the TOK questions embedded into
question,
question are different: can human beings
that
interpret, compare and/or quantify the
detect,
of an animal? What tools and theories
suffering
our ability to do so, who came up with
enable
can we trust those people and what was
them,
agenda? Can the benefits to testing be
their
to this suffering? How will we know
compared
we have enough evidence to make a
when
These questions necessarily involve the
decision?
of science, but they are also inherently
practice
of knowledge, and require a different
questions
not right from wrong, but how
focus—answering
know right from wrong. In answering them, we
to
confidence that we know right from wrong.
gain
common challenge within TOK is ethical
A
the idea that ethical standards vary
relativism,
contexts because different peoples, nations
across
cultures often do not agree. Further, and
and
within science, this disagreement is
especially
by their competing strategic and
influenced
interests. Science as a tool towards
political
can be used toward those interests; and
power
have seen throughout history that when the
we
are high, the ends are somehow made to
stakes
the means. It is imperative that we are
justify
of the conceptual and quantitative tools,
aware
their shortcomings, that are used to make
and
ethical justifications.
such
ethics of science as an area of knowledge
The
be explored in two main areas: the pursuit
can
scientific knowledge and the application of
of
knowledge. Chapter 11 deals with
scientific
similar dichotomy, between research and
a
in mathematics.
application
has established traditions of integrity
Science
the practice such that “doing good
within
is nearly synonymous with “doing
science”
science”. In theory this is underpinned by:
ethical
adherence to best practice standards
•
experimental design and procedure,
of
review committees that approve or
including
research projects on ethical grounds.
deny
7
I V. E T H I C S
In some sort of crude sense, which no vulgarity, no
humour, no overstatements can quite extinguish, the
physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge
which they cannot lose.
(Oppenheimer 1947)
IV.1 Ethics in scientific methodology
in Chapter 8.
• attention to detail
• sincere attempts at impartiality
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