Why Scientists Usually Don't Deal with Ethical Issues and why it is Important That They Do

Why Scientists Usually Don't Deal with Ethical Issues and why it is Important That They Do

Introduction

Science can simply be defined the study of any matter or subject. Therefore, a Scientist can simply be defined as an individual that conducts researches and study various subject on the basis of data and resources available, implement methodologies to test the knowledge obtained, analyze the outcomes of the experiments and finally form a solid conclusion in accordance with the data collected in the previous procedural steps. Irrespective of if the scientist is working for any organization or whether he is working independently, the mentioned steps are followed by all the scientists throughout. Because of the services they offer in the fields of research, discovery and invention, these individuals receive both acknowledgement of their work and appreciation by others. However, the fact that is least discussed or acknowledged are the work ethics in the fields of Science and Research and the consequences of if these rules and codes are violated.

Discussion

Since the very beginning of the fields of Science and Research, there never were any rigid set of rules codes of conduct. There were some informal ethics and guidelines that were occasionally considered. However, the concept of accountability of Scientist ahs never really been given much thought and consideration. In spite of a number of controversies regarding scientists violating any of the copy right guidelines or committing several other ethical and unprofessional acts, these individuals never really had to face the consequences of their crimes.

However, it was not until the mid twentieth century when a number of unethical crimes and violation of some of the basic working principles, a framework was designed for imposing certain limitation on these individuals and official rules of accountability for the first time were introduced for these scientists (Bolton, 2002).

The ethical criteria to judge any scientist therefore was categorized into two categories. The first criteria include adapting all the necessary and standard methods in order to find the authentic data and information, analyzing it thoroughly, and finally interpretation of the data. The second criteria includes application of the researches theory on human, animal and other subjects and list all the findings of the experiment accurately and honestly even if the outcomes of the tests conducted are negating the very basis of the research (Resnik, 2008).

Therefore, it will not be harsh to say that with such clear and fair judgment criteria for the scientists, it is indeed an unfortunate fact if these individuals still continue to breach all the ethical guidelines proposed for them. There could be a number of reasons why these scientists enjoy a lot of freedom.

Their Expertise

The very fact that these Scientists are known to have an appreciable amount of knowledge and experience in their fields of study, can make the critiques to think twice before raising the questions on these scientists. It is highly unlikely that any common individual ...