Right and Wrong in the Conduct of Science

Authors

  • Mukunda P Das The Australian National University
  • Frederick Green The University of New South Wales

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12726/tjp.12.2

Abstract

Science, in particular physics, is a collective enterprise and is so because it is, itself, a fruit of the exquisitely social nature of human living. So it is inevitable to encounter ethical issues in the natural sciences, since the contest of differing interests and views is perennial in its practice, indeed essential to its momentum. The crucial ethical question always hangs in the air: How is the truth best served? In this paper we describe some ethical aspects of our own discipline of science: their cultural context and the bounds which they delineate for themselves, sometimes in transgression. We argue that the minimalist ethic espoused in science, namely loyalty to truth, is a bellwether for the much wider, more problematic, and more vital consequences of ethics – and its failure – in human relationships at large.

Author Biographies

Mukunda P Das, The Australian National University

Department of Theoretical Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

Frederick Green, The University of New South Wales

School of Physics, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

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Published

2014-07-01

How to Cite

Das, M. P., & Green, F. (2014). Right and Wrong in the Conduct of Science. Tattva Journal of Philosophy, 6(2), 25-43. https://doi.org/10.12726/tjp.12.2

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2014): Tattva Journal of Philosophy

Section

Articles

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