Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Reverence and Ethics in Science

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23065537


 2012 Oct 13. [Epub ahead of print]

Reverence and Ethics in Science.

Source

Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996-1600, USA, jkovac@utk.edu.

Abstract

Codes of ethics abound in science, but the question of why such codes should be obeyed is rarely asked. Various reasons for obeying a professional code have been proposed, but all are unsatisfactory in that they do not really motivate behavior. This article suggests that the long forgotten virtue of reverence provides both a reason to obey a professional code and motivation to do so. In addition, it discusses the importance of reverence as a cardinal virtue for scientists drawing on the ideas of Paul Woodruff on the role of virtue in community.

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