Douglas, Heather (2003) The moral responsibilities of scientists: Tensions between autonomy and responsibility. [Preprint]

Text 2003 Moral Resp of Sci APQ preprint.doc Download (67kB)

Abstract

There are two fundamental bases for the moral responsibilities of scientists: role responsibilities and general responsibilities. Scientists have role responsibilities that come with being a scientist; these include the burdens of governance in the scientific community and upholding the ethical standards internal to science. The role that scientists play, however, does not shield them from the general moral responsibilities that we all share. Of particular importance to scientists are the responsibilities not to be reckless or negligent, i.e. not to ignore or fail to reflect on the risks inherent in scientific research for society at large. These general responsibilities take on an increased urgency given the potentially widespread impact of scientific work. If scientists choose to neglect these responsibilities, they must be taken up by others, thus threatening the scientists’ autonomy.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Douglas, Heather dougl239@msu.edu 0000-0003-1068-8948
Subjects:	General Issues > Ethical Issues General Issues > Science and Society
Depositing User:	Prof. Heather Douglas
Date Deposited:	01 Jan 2026 13:35
Last Modified:	01 Jan 2026 13:35
Item ID:	27686
Subjects:	General Issues > Ethical Issues General Issues > Science and Society
Date:	2003
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/27686

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