Ethics
in Science
reading
schedule
Date |
Reading |
Location |
Comments |
| Th
1/24 |
Kenneth
D. Pimple, “The ten most important things to know about research
ethics” |
distributed | Click here for the PDF |
| Muriel
J. Bebeau, “Developing a Well-Reasoned Response to a Moral Problem
in Scientific Research” |
distributed | Click here for the PDF | |
| Case
Study: “The Jessica Banks Case” |
distributed | Click here for the case and here for the response form. | |
| Tu
1/29 |
On
Being a Scientist |
WWW | |
| Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, Panel on Scientific Responsibility and the Conduct of Research, “The Nature of Science” | CR | ||
| Fred Grinnell, “Doing Science” | CR | ||
| Peter Godfrey-Smith, Merton’s norms of science | CR | ||
| Th 1/31 | Aristotle, “Happiness, Function, and Virtue” | CR | Focus especially on pp. 41-43. |
| Immanuel Kant, “Good Will, Duty, and the Categorical Imperative” | CR | Focus on pp. 46-51; the key concept is the categorical imperative, which Kant sees as the underpinning of all morality. | |
| John Stuart Mill, “Utilitarianism” | CR | Focus on pp. 52-55 ("What Utilitarianism Is"). | |
| Entry on “relativism” | CR | ||
| Tu 2/5 | Michael Ruse, “Creation Science: The Ultimate Fraud” | CR | |
| The Biology and Gender Study Group, “The Importance of Feminist Critique for Contemporary Cell Biology” | CR | ||
| Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin, “The Problem of Lysenkoism.” | CR | Read pp. 163-170, 174-176, 179-181, 186-189, 191-196; skim or skip the rest. | |
| Mark B. Adams, “Science, Ideology, and Structure: The Kol’tsov Institute, 1900-1970” (excerpt). | CR | Read pp. 183-197; skim or skip the rest. | |
| Th 2/7 | Chapter 2, “Professional Codes and the Duty to Do Scientific Research” | WWW | The most controversial claims are pp.23-25 ("Research-Related Duties and the Public Good"). |
| Chapter 4, “Basic Principles: Promoting the Public Good” | WWW | Be sure to notice the third principle of research ethics. | |
| Tu 2/12 | Philip Kitcher, “Subversive Truth and Ideals of Progress” | CR | Kitcher's argument is worked out pp. 152-166. It's pretty detailed; you may find it helpful to make a diagram or flowchart of the options he considers. |
| Khor Kok Peng, “Science and Development: Underdeveloping the Third World” | CR | ||
| Michael Dummett, “Ought Research to be Unrestricted?” | CR | Read pp. 291-298; skim or skip the rest. | |
| Th 2/14 | Jean-Baptiste Meyer, “Science and Technology in South Africa: A New Society in the Making.” | CR | Read pp. 191-200; skim or skip the rest. |
| V. V. Krishna, “A Portrait of the Scientific Community in India: Historical Growth and Contemporary Problems.” | CR | Read pp. 236-245, 263-273; skim or skip the rest. | |
| Third World Network, “Modern Science in Crisis: A Third World Response.” | CR | Read pp. 484-487, 489-502, 516-518; skim or skip the rest. | |
| Tu 2/19 | Barbara Mishkin, “Urgently Needed: Policies on Access to Data by Erstwhile Collaborators” | CR | |
| “Data Management Guidelines Issued by British Medical Research Council” | WWW | ||
| “Instructions for Authors,” Journal of Bacteriology | WWW | ||
| “NRC Reports on Sharing Publication-Related Data and Materials” | WWW | ||
| Donald L. Pavia, Gary M. Lampman, and George S. Kriz, Jr., “Advance Preparation and Laboratory Records” | CR | Think about how these standard instructions might head off data management problems ... | |
| Daniel J. Kevles, The Baltimore Case (excerpts) | CR | ||
| Recommended: Kevles, "A Beautiful Paper" | WWW | This is some background about the paper in Cell that was in the center of the Baltimore case. | |
| Th 2/21 | Fred Grinnell, “Making Observations” | CR | |
| John C. Bailar III, “Science, Statistics, and Deception” | E&S | ||
| NCSU Research Ethics Mini Rounds, Module IX, “Responsible Use of Statistical Methods.” | WWW | Read pp. 4-9, 21-28; skim or skip the rest. | |
| Tu 2/26 | Bruce Bower, “Objective Visions: Historians track the rise and times of scientific objectivity” | CR | |
| Marie Boas Hall, “The Frame of Man and Its Ills.” | CR | Read pp. 130-142; skim or skip the rest. The key issue to think about is what counted as "good" sources of information about anatomy, and why. | |
| Peter Machamer, “ The Concept of the Individual and the Idea(l) of Method in Seventeenth-Century Natural Philosophy” | CR | Think about the connection between individual experience and "method" in establishing good knowledge. | |
| Recommended: Vandana Shiva, “Modern science as patriarchy’s project” | WWW | ||
| Recommended: Helen Longino, “Gender and Racial Biases in Scientific Research” | WWW | ||
| Th 2/28 | National Academy of Sciences, “Methods and Values in Science” |
CR | |
Pamela J. Asquith, “Japanese Science and Western Hegemonies: Primatology and the Limits Set to Questions” |
CR | Think about the differences between the Western and Japanese primatologists' ideas of the proper methodology, and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. | |
| Donna Haraway, “The Bio-politics of a Multicultural Field” | CR | What cultural assumptions does Haraway think are at play in the kinds of knowledge Japanese and Western primatologists are looking for? | |
| Tu 3/4 | Frederick Grinnell, “Ambiguity, Trust, and the Responsible Conduct of Research” | CR | |
| Recommended: Carl Cranor, “Public Health Research and Uncertainty” | WWW | Do not spend too much time poring over the equation on p. 183! | |
| Th 3/6 | Case Study: “The Marty Brown Case” | CR | Click here for the case and here for the response form. |
| Tu 3/11 | Andrew Rowan, “The Benefits and Ethics of Animal Research” | CR | |
| Neal D. Barnard and Stephen R. Kaufman, “Animal Research is Wasteful and Misleading” | CR | ||
| Jack H. Botting and Adrian R. Morrison, “Animal Research is Vital to Medicine” | CR | ||
| Madhusree Mukerjee, “Trends in Animal Research” | CR | ||
| Recommended: Deni Elliott and Marilyn Brown, “Animal Experimentation and Ethics” | E&S | ||
| Recommended: Richard P. Vance, “An Introduction to the Philosophical Presuppositions of the Animal Liberation/Rights Movement” | E&S | ||
| Th 3/13 | Case Study: “The Jenny Ito Case” | CR | Click here for the case and here for the response form. |
| Tu 3/18 | Telford Taylor, “Opening Statement of the Prosecution, December 9, 1946,” “Judgment and Aftermath” | CR | Especially interesting is the argument (pp. 91-92) that the Nazi experiments were not just ethically bad, but also scientifically bad. |
| Charles C. Mann, “Radiation: Balancing the Record” | E&S (307-316) | ||
| James H. Jones, “A Moral Astigmatism” | CR | ||
| James H. Jones, “ Nothing Learned will Prevent, Find, or Cure a Single Case” | CR | ||
| Recommended: John C. Fletcher, “A Case Study in Historical Relativism: The Tuskegee (Public Health Service) Syphilis Study” | WWW | The discussion of (changing) core values of society in evaluation the syphilis study (pp. 287-292) is quite good, as is the discussion of how the institutional structure of NIH and PHS contributed to the ethical problems. | |
| Th 3/19 | The Hippocratic Oath | CR | |
| David C. Lindberg, “Hippocratic Medicine” | CR | Insight into the purpose of the oath from the point of view of ancient physicians. | |
| The Nuremberg Code | E&S (300-301) | ||
| World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, 1989 Version | E&S (302-306) | ||
| The Belmont Report | WWW | ||
| Robert M. Veatch, “Abandoning Informed Consent” | CR | ||
| Anna Mastroianni and Jeffrey Kahn, “Swinging on the Pendulum: Shifting Views of Justice in Human Subjects Research” | CR | ||
| Recommended: Jonathan D. Moreno, “Goodbye to All That: The End of Moderate Protectionism in Human Subjects Research” | WWW | ||
| Recommended: Wendy K. Mariner, "AIDS Research and the Nuremberg Code" | WWW | ||
| Tu 4/1 | Marcia Angell, “The Ethics of Clinical Research in the Third World” | CR | |
| Harold Varmus and David Satcher, “Ethical Complexities of Conducting Research in Developing Countries” | CR | ||
| NBAC, “Ethical Issues in International Research — Setting the Stage” | CR | Think about how international research collaborations are shaped by -- and affect -- the values of participants on all sides. | |
| Recommended: S. R. Benatar and P. A. Singer, “A new look at international research ethics” | WWW | ||
| Recommended: E. Emanuel, “Fair Benefits for Research in Developing Countries” | WWW | ||
| Th 4/3 | Stephanie J. Bird and David E. Housman, “Reporting and Funding Research” | E&S (120-140) | |
| Patricia K. Woolf, “Pressure to Publish and Fraud in Research” | E&S (141-145) | ||
| Tu 4/8 | Paul J. Friedman, “A new standard for authorship” | CR | |
| Carlos Galindo-Leal, “Explicit Authorship” | CR | ||
| Roderick Hunt, “Trying an Authorship Index” | CR | ||
| International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, “Guidelines on Authorship” | E&S (146-147) | ||
| Ivan Amato, “Rustum Roy: PR Is a Better System Than Peer Review” | E&S (148-150) | ||
| Charles W. McCutchen, “Peer Review: Treacherous Servant, Disastrous Master” | E&S (151-164) | ||
| Christine Wennerås and Agnes Wold, “Nepotism and sexism in peer-review” | CR | ||
| Th 4/10 | Vandana Shiva, “The Role of Patents in History” | CR | |
| Vandana Shiva, “The Myth of Patents” | CR | ||
| Vandana Shiva, “Biopiracy” | CR | ||
| Tu 4/15 | Case Study: “The Charlie West Case” | CR | Click here for the case and here for the response form. |
| Th 4/17 | Sharon Traweek, “Kokusaika, Gaiatsu, and Bachigai: Japanese Physicists’ Strategies for Moving into the International Political Economy of Science” | CR | Within the Japanese physics community, what are the advantages and disadvantages of being bachigai? |
| Sharon Traweek, “Border Crossings: Narrative Strategies in Science Studies and among Physicists in Tsukuba Science City, Japan” | CR | Read pp. 446-458; skim or skip the rest. Pay special attention to the discussion of the choice of what language to present a finding in, and if what language. | |
| Tu 4/22 | Edward S. Herman, “Corporate Junk Science in the Media” | CR | |
| Mark Dowie, “What’s Wrong with the New York Times’s Science Reporting?” | CR | ||
| Th 4/24 | "CATCH UP" DAY | ||
| Tu 4/29 | Vivian Weil, “Mentoring: Some Ethical Considerations” | CR | Is mentoring a duty? Does a trainee have a right to be mentored? |
| Carl Djerassi, Cantor’s Dilemma | This is 227 pages long, but it's a novel. It's a reasonably quick read, but you shouldn't leave it till the night before! | ||
| Th 5/1 | Steven Fuller, “How Japan Taught the West the Secret of Its Own Success” | CR | |
| Vivian Weil and Robert Arzebaecher, “Relationships in Laboratories and Research Communities” | E&S (69-90) | ||
| Tu 5/6 | Case Study: “The Diane Archer Case” | CR | Click here for the case and here for the response form. |
| Th 5/8 | Donald E. Buzzelli, “The Definition of Misconduct in Science: A View from NSF” | E&S | |
| Howard K. Schachman, “What is Misconduct in Science?” | E&S | ||
| Wayne Leibel, “When Scientists are Wrong: Admitting Inadvertent Error in Research” | CR | ||
| David Goodstein, “Scientific Fraud” | CR | ||
| Charles J. List, “Scientific Fraud: Social Deviance or Failure of Virtue?” | CR | Pay special attention to List's recommendations for combatting fraud (pp. 33-34); these connect in an interesting way to Aristotle's approach to ethics. | |
| Michael J. Zigmond and Beth A. Fischer, “Beyond fabrication and plagiarism: The little murders of everyday science” | CR | ||
| C.K. Gunsalus, “How to Blow the Whistle and Still Have a Career Afterwards” | CR |
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