Ethics in Science and Engineering E-Book

James G. Speight

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: Wiley-Scrivener
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 435

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The only treatment of ethics from a scientific and engineering perspective The pursuit of science and engineering requires freedom of thought and, in the academic sense, unrestricted communication. It is through the professionalism of the members of these disciplines that world knowledge and technology advances. Yet there are continuous reports of unethical behavior in the forms of data manipulation, cheating, and plagiarism at the highest levels. The motivations for this behavior are varied, such as the need to advance one's career or to obtain research funding. This book gives an account of scientific and engineering disciplines and examines the potential for unethical behavior by professionals. Documented examples are presented to show where the matter could have been halted before it became an unethical issue. The authors also look to the future to see what is in store for professionals in science and engineering and how the potential for unethical behavior can be negated.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Half Title page

Title page

Copyright page

Preface

Chapter 1: Explaining Ethics

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The Impact of Science and Engineering

1.3 The Framework of Ethics

1.4 Ethics in Professional Life

References

Chapter 2: Scientists and Engineers

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Definitions

2.3 Scientific Disciplines

2.4 Engineering Disciplines

2.5 Expert Witness

2.6 Professionalism

References

Chapter 3: The Psychology and Philosophy of Ethics

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Ethical Responsibilities in Research

3.3 Ethics in Science and Engineering

3.4 A Phenomenological Theory of Ethics

3.5 Conflicts of Interest

References

Chapter 4: Education of Scientists and Engineers

4.1 Introduction

4.2 The High School Experience

4.3 The Baccalaureate Experience

4.4 The Graduate Degree Experience

4.5 Postdoctoral Education

4.6 Morals and Values

4.7 Evaluating Scientists and Engineers

4.8 Intellectual Property

References

Chapter 5: Scientific and Engineering Societies

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Scientific Societies

5.3 Engineering Societies

5.4 Codes of Ethics and Ethical Standards

5.5 Promoting Research Integrity

5.6 The Effectiveness of Society Activities

5.7 Academic Freedom

References

Chapter 6: Codes of Ethics and Ethical Standards

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Ethics

6.3 Codes of Ethics

6.4 The Premise Behind Codes of Ethics

6.5 Codes of Ethics and Peer Reviews

References

Chapter 7: Integrity in Research

7.1 Introduction

7.2 The Nature and Conduct of Research

7.3 Collecting Research Data

7.4 The Controls

References

Chapter 8: Publication and Communication

8.1 Introduction

8.2 The Scientific and Engineering Literature

8.3 The Journals

8.4 Data Manipulation for Publication

8.5 Detecting Falsified Data

8.6 Peer Reviewers and Their Duties

8.7 Duties and Responsibilities of a Journal Editor

References

Chapter 9: Enforcement of Codes of Ethics

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Following a Code of Ethics

9.3 Enforcing a Code of Ethics

9.4 Reporting Misconduct

9.5 Published Examples of Unethical Behavior

References

Glossary

Index

Ethics in Science and Engineering

Scrivener Publishing 3 Winter Street, Suite 3 Salem, MA 01970

Scrivener Publishing Collections Editors

James E. R. CouperRichard ErdlacPradip KhaladkarNorman LiebermanW. Kent MuhlbauerS. A. SherifKen DragoonRafiq IslamVitthal KulkarniPeter MartinAndrew Y. C. NeeJames G. Speight

Publishers at ScrivenerMartin Scrivener ([email protected])Phillip Carmical ([email protected])

Copyright © 2011 by Scrivener Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Co-published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, New Jersey, and Scrivener Publishing LLC, Salem, Massachusetts.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

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Preface

The various scientific and engineering disciplines are world-wide professional disciplines. The members of these disciplines collect factual data, and the ensuing treatment of the data to discover new arenas of knowledge is universal. No one can foresee the tortuous path of scientific and engineering investigation and know where experimentation and observation may lead. Then there is always the mode of data interpretation.

The pursuit of science and engineering requires freedom of thought and, in the academic sense, unrestricted communication. It is through the professionalism of the members of the scientific and engineering disciplines that world knowledge and technology advances. Yet there are continuous reports of unethical behavior in the form of data manipulation, cheating, and plagiarism at the highest levels of the disciplines. The causes are manifold whether it is the need to advance in one of the chosen disciplines or to compete successfully for and obtain research funding.

Disappointingly, individuals who are oriented to any form of scientific or engineering dishonesty are individuals who had previously displayed little or no consideration for the feelings of others and are therefore more interested in other scientists and engineers recognizing them by any means necessary.

This project was triggered by a combination of factors — awareness by the authors of the increasing frequency of unethical practices in the realm education, recognition of the focus of the literature on ethical behavior, and the realization that ethical/unethical behavior is the outcome of choice and is not due to chance. There is no attempt to be judgmental but to encourage everyone to reflect on themselves philosophically (that is, in terms of individual values and beliefs) since it was absolutely clear that personal motivations and preferences can override any other contributory factor.

This book gives an account of various scientific and engineering disciplines and examines the potential for unethical behavior by professionals. Documented examples are presented to show where the matter could have been halted before it became an ethical issue. The authors also look to the future to see what is in store for professionals in the scientific and engineering disciplines and how the potential for unethical behavior can be negated.

On the basis of the observations and research by the authors, this publication seeks to advance basic requirements for the application of ethical behavior, to mitigate the frequent occurrences of misconduct, which currently and frequently appear in the scientific and engineering disciplines.

To claim completeness in a project of this nature would be foolhardy, but it is hoped that this preliminary treatment will stimulate discussions about ethics among students and faculty within universities and other educational institutions. There is a further hope that such self-examination will encourage students and faculty to raise their own standards of ethical conduct without having to be forced to do so.

Russell Foote, PhD Trinidad and Tobago

James G. Speight, PhD, DSc Laramie Wyoming, USA

Chapter 1

Explaining Ethics

1.1 Introduction

Scientific and engineering disciplines are considered to be highly ethical professions in which scientists and engineers exhibit behavior of the highest ethical and moral standards.

Ethics is “the normative science of conduct, and conduct is a collective name for voluntary actions” (Lillie, 2001, page 3). In this regard, voluntary actions are those actions that could have been done differently, where such actions may be good or bad, right or wrong, or moral or immoral. Ethics focuses not on what people think but what they ought to think or do. An ethical science is an in-depth, systematic study of the standards for judging right and wrong, good and bad principles, guiding means, and how far we will or should go (Lillie, 2001; Howard and Korver, 2008).

Generally, ethics (morality) is a core branch of philosophy that attempts to define right and wrong; what a scientist or engineer ought to do is as distinct from what they may do. In philosophical studies, ethics is usually divided into three sub-fields: (1) meta-ethics, (2) normative ethics, and (3) applied ethics.

Meta-ethics includes investigation of whether or not ethical claims are capable of being true or false, or if they are expressions of emotion. Normative ethics attempts to arrive at practical moral standards that would tell, for example, the scientist or engineer what is right or what is wrong. Applied ethics is the application of theories of right and wrong and theories of value to specific issues such as honesty and lying.

Whatever the definition, ethics is one of the pillars of scientific research, teaching and community service requirements of higher education. It is definitely one of the criteria for evaluating the quality of higher education in these aforementioned areas. Despite the variables that contribute to ethical or unethical behavior, the central determinants are the personal thoughts and behavior of the scientist and engineer which determines the meaning that an individual assigns to their position regarding ethics.

Personal thoughts and behavior can override the influence of any other factor, including the Codes of Ethics of professional bodies. The ability to manage emotions during the processes of scientific and engineering research orients many individuals to act on feelings and engage in unethical practices. This is reflected in the increasing frequency of reports of misconduct in the scientific and engineering disciplines (Chapter 8).

The realm of ethics is concerned with standards and requirements for socially acceptable behavior, in addition to following proper procedures for getting things done at any level of interaction — individual, group, organizational, community, governmental or regional. Ethics has several strands that are applicable to the scientist and engineer: (1) descriptive ethics, which the actual behavior of people and the ethical requirements of their behavior, (2) , which is the application of the values that are good enough to guide interaction, and (3) , which is the application of normative rights to specific issues, disciplines and settings (Kitchener and Kitchener, 2009, page 5–6).