Knowledge is basically the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. It consists of facts and skills acquired by a person through experience or education. Ethical considerations are relative to one’s own knowledge, experience, and value system. According to Hunt and Vitell (1986), ethical judgment is the process of considering several alternatives and choosing the most ethical alternative. For Rest (1986), ethical judgment is the process by which an individual determines that one alternative is morally right and another alternative is morally wrong. “Broadly, ethical judgement can be defined so as to include the decision process as well as the action itself.” This essay aims to discuss the way in which ethical judgements limit the methods available in the production of knowledge in both the arts and natural sciences.
Scientific research is used in the production of knowledge. In some cases, ethical judgements limit this method of knowledge production. For example and due to limited prevalence of a certain disease, and the high cost of research, experimentation is rather limited; therefore leading to poor health care for those patients suffering from this disease. Patients who suffer from a complicated ophthalmic disease characterized by the absence of their eye pupils are not being taken into consideration as their number is rather small, and there is limited scientific research to improve their eyesight.
Animal testing raises a very large debate in the field of science and ethics. Making animals suffer for the benefit of man is definitely immoral; however, many believe that it is needed for making scientific advances.
It is true that the human race would not be where it is today without the findings that scientists ...
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...owledge produced based on experimentation, which is based on deductive and inductive reasoning, and not affected by ethical judgments.
Debates on issues such as scientific research on certain ailments and animal testing in the science, to photos about vulnerable refugee populations and war documentaries in the arts, have been ongoing. For both, ethical judgments have hindered the production in the art and natural sciences. Nonetheless; there definitely needs to be an equal medium as the world will continue to change and progress, and humans need to learn to go with this flow, but remember to know what the limits are, when to stop, or when to push past them and thrive.
Works Cited
http://arianaaltman.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/tok-essay-revised/
http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/content/11/2/179.full.pdf?origin=publication_detail
The practice of using animals for testing has been a controversial issue over the past thirty years. Animal testing is a morally debated practice. The question is whether animal testing is morally right or wrong. This paper will present both sides of this issue as well as my own opinion.
Every year about 100 million animals suffer through being poisoned, shocked, and burned for unsuccessful medical research. Some may believe that animal testing is a crucial part to medical research and should be used more frequently. Others believe the pain and suffering inflicted upon the animals is morally wrong and should not be done, no matter what benefits come from it.
Every year approximately 100 million animals are killed as a part of scientific research in the United States alone. Animal testing is a highly controversial practice in the modern world. There are records of animals being used in biological and medicinal research as far back as 384 BCE with the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Many people believe animal testing is unethical as it is bringing harm to animals in order to benefit humans. Ever since the beginning of this practice, animal testing has been used for a variety of purposes, all of which are inhumane and unethical.
The morals of a modern society entails protections for all species of life. Humans do not have the nature to not inflict harm on innocent animals around the world.Animal research is unjust and neglectful to species in every animal kingdom.The animal kingdom has been disturbed since men step foot on this earth. Some people are so selfish that the only thing that look over is about their own selves and not other humans or living things in this world. Animal rights is a big thing to some people and to others it not this paper talks about how it's cruel to research on animals, how research doesn't improve health,and how it's not regulated.
Who appoints ethical limits that prevail in our society? Is every individual responsible for their own actions even though their morals may be different from others? Ethical judgments are made for every individual separately and some of them are based on their own emotions or their own reason. There are many factors that influence ethical judgments in a society or culture. In my essay I will use reason and emotion as ways of knowing, because I believe that in order to make an ethical judgment in both the natural sciences and arts a person’s emotion and reason play a role. Discovering new knowledge in natural sciences is mostly done with controlled experiments, while artists can express their knowledge in a different way with pictures, sculptures, movies… In both areas of knowledge ethics cannot be excluded. Art has more freedom to express without getting negative feedback from spectators or society, while a natural scientist must be aware of lots of ethical limits in order that their experiment would be ethically acceptable. My claim is that ethical judgments do limit the methods available in the production of knowledge in arts and natural sciences, but the limitations are stricter when it comes to conducting experiments than creating art works. Ideally an objective view should be considered when evaluating this claim but our emotions can be stumbling blocks to ethical judgments.
As in any debate though there is always an opposing side, which seems to toss out their opinions and facts as frequently as the rest. So many in today’s world view animal research as morally wrong and believe animals do have rights. Peter Singer, an author and philosophy professor, “argues that because animals have nervous systems and can suffer just as much as humans can, it is wrong for humans to use animals for research, food, or clothing” (Singer 17). Do animals have any rights? Is animal experimentation ethical? These are questions many struggle with day in and day out in the ongoing battle surrounding the controversial topic of animal research and testing, known as vivisection.
“Morality may consist solely in the courage of making a choice.” This quote by Leon Blum conveys what ethical judgment is. It is making a choice about what is wrong and what is right and the choice that has been made affects further activities. If the choice that the activity is right was chosen, then that activity would be continued, but if the choice that the activity is wrong were chosen, then the activity would not be able to continue hence, there would be no further production of knowledge. It’s humans who decides and makes a choice as science and art are just a tool. But as there are no scientific methods in the world to decide what is right and wrong due to the absence of universal ethical code, what I consider to be ethical might not be ethical to another person. So, the process of how people perceive situations or their belief about what is ethical and unethical it determines the emotions and hence the actions are finally taken. But, to what extent should humans consider ethics while carrying out experiments? This knowledge issue raised by the question would help explore the knowledge issue in the areas of knowledge: Natural Science and Art.
middle of paper ... ... 1. What is the difference between a. and a. History of Medicine: Subjected to Science: Human Experimentation in America before the Second World War, Annals of Internal Medicine, American College of Physicians, July 15, 1995 vol. 123. No. of the. 2 159 2. President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedicine and Behavioral Research, "Defining Death: Medical, Legal and Ethical Issues in the Determination of Death," July 1981.
As an idea, ethics means as a complex arrangement of qualities, measures and institutional plans that help constitute and direct scientific action. Eventually, research ethics is a codification of morals of science practically speaking. As such, it is taking into account general morals of science, generally as general morals is in view of conventional ethical quality (Nesh,
Ever since the scientific revolution, there have been countless breakthroughs in the scientific field. From the invention of the light bulb to the computers we stare at daily, it is axiomatic that such things can only happen due to the advancement in science. However, a myriad of scientific researches today have received strong opposition due to the ethical concerns regarding the research. This essay will agree that ethics hinder scientific research because society has a system of shared values and norms which constitutes people’s ethical personality and differentiates what is ethical and can be tolerated.
Ethical judgements limit the methods available in the production of knowledge in both, the arts and the natural sciences.
middle of paper ... ... Although subject to change in different cultures, the societal norm of placing an ethical code helps us to set the “right” amount of boundaries in areas of knowledge, including the arts and the natural sciences. Like I said before, there are many complications to this as both scientists and artists are put in situations where they must face the fine line between having a scientific/artistic role or ethical role in creating opportunities for knowledge. Works Cited McKie, Robin.
Interpreted literally, ethical judgements do seem to limit methods available in the production of knowledge in both the arts and the natural sciences; it’s not difficult to imagine the chaos of a world void of any kind of ethical considerations. However, can knowledge in the natural sciences even be compared to knowledge in the arts? Knowledge in the natural sciences includes knowledge that helps improve methods used in hospitals to treat previously untreatable illnesses. Art at first glance does not hold enough weight to be compared because it reaches a smaller number of people giving it less importance than knowledge gained in natural sciences. Nevertheless, art might not reach many people at one time, but it does spread ideas and judgements that go beyond the unanswered questions, hypothesis, and speculations of the natural sciences.
One might begin to think, what conclusions can be drawn from the above discussion? From my perspective, I feel as though there is enough evidence to support the above assertions despite the counter claims. I have drawn from both real life situations and personal experiences and in the process understood the influence of ethical judgment in both areas of knowledge. Ethical judgment, therefore serves to ensure that we as individuals make moral choices in our everyday life, but in doing so can limit the methods available for the production of knowledge.
...it the knowledge that we may gain through the arts. The same can be said involving the natural sciences; even though these sciences tend to be more objective, the subjective nature of ethics can cloud judgement and could prevent progress in that field. For example, if a certain experiment is regarded as unethical and is therefore discontinued, one could say that the chances of making a scientific discovery is also discontinued. On the other hand, if the scientists were allowed to go forward with the experiment and no great conclusions or progress was made, then it could been seen as a waste of time and displeasing. Either way, we can never be completely sure on which side is the “better” side because it is based purely on ethical opinion. Therefore, ethical judgements can limit the methods in the production of knowledge in the both the natural sciences and the arts.