UE0022
ETHICS IN SCIENCE
Prof Madya Ts Dr Sazmal Effendi Arshad
Fakulti Sains dan Sumber Alam
◦ What is ethics?
◦ Ethics or moral philosophy is a
branch of philosophy that Introduction
"involves systematizing,
defending, and recommending to Ethics
concepts of right and wrong
behavior"
Why we learn Ethics in Science?
Right and Wrong
Who? Society demand? Among Scientist
Data
What do you do as a Analysis
scientist? Interpretation
Sharing
“The ultimate purpose in studying ethics is
not as it is in other inquiries, the
attainment of theoretical knowledge; we
are not conducting this inquiry in order to
know what virtues is, but in order to
become good, else there would be no
advantage in studying it”
ARISTOTLE
Nicomachean Ethics, Bk. 2 Ch. 2
Amalan etika yang baik merupakan satu
tuntutan dan keperluan dalam konteks
kehidupan seseorang individu dan
masyarakat
Virtue = Kebajikan, Kebaikan,
Sifat Baik
Moral = Moral, Susila
GLOSAR
I Culture = Budaya
Conduct = Tingkah Laku,
Kelakuan, Tindakan
What is Ethics?
◦ A system of moral principles: ethics of culture
◦ Rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of
human actions or a particular group culture…medical ethics, Islam
ethics
◦ Moral principles as an individual
◦ The branch of philosophy dealing
with values related to human conduct
with respect to the rightness and
wrongness of the motives and ends of
such actions
◦ Other meanings:
◦ A set of standards of right
& wrong established by a
particular group and
imposed on members of
that group as a means of
regulating and setting
limits on their behaviour
◦ Greek word ethos
◦ Cultural custom or habit
◦ Word moral from Latin
moralis also means custom
◦ Ethics as philosophical
discipline includes of the
study of the values and
guidelines by which we live
and the justification for these
values and guidelines
1- Abuse of power 3- Business bribery
4- Sports bribery
2- Discrimination
5- Political corruption
Top 10 examples of ethical problems
6- Excessive loyalty 8- Lack of commitment
9- Social control
7- Lack of confidentiality
10- Conflict of interest
1- Abuse of power
2- Discrimination
3- Business bribery
4- Sports bribery
5- Political corruption
6- Excessive loyalty
7- Lack of confidentiality
8- Lack of commitment
10- Conflict of interest
References
[Link], M. (2005). 101 ethical dilemmas Editorial Alliance.
[Link]ández, A. (1988). Introduction to ethics: ethical problems of our
time. Dossat
[Link], M. (1997). Ethical dilemmas. Mexico, D.F: National
Autonomous University of Mexico, Philosophical Research
Institute.
Ethics is a Involves active engagement in the pursuit of the good life –
way of life a life consistent with a coherent set of moral values
Based on
Aristotle – the
moral activities Repeated performance of good actions that we
are human par become moral
excellence –
where we can be Repeat practice of moral actions as habituation
happy
◦ “..a complete moral philosophy
would tell us how and why we
should act and feel toward others
in relationships of shifting and The
varying power asymmetry and
shifting and varying intimacy.”
subdivision of
◦ Annette Baier Ethics
◦ Ethics 1986
◦ p 252
The subdivisions
of ethics
[Link] ethics
[Link] ethics
[Link] ethics
1. Descriptive ethics
◦ – describe people’s belief, claims and
behaviour
◦ Studied with psychology, sociology,
antropology
◦ Judgments about the “rightness” of “wrongness”
of things in terms of people’s opinions. Some
examples of descriptive ethics include:
• “68% of respondents said they disapprove of
the administration.”
• “This movie has a pretty bad rating on Rotten
Tomatoes.”
◦ Descriptive ethics, also known as comparative ethics, is the study of people's
beliefs about morality.
◦ It would be describing the norms or ethical systems used in a given
geographical locale or a given culture.
◦ Descriptive ethical relativism describes the fact that in different cultures one
of the variants is the sense of morality: the mores, customs and ethical
principles may all vary from one culture to another. There is a great deal of
information available to confirm this as well. What is thought to be moral in
one country may be thought to be immoral and even made illegal in another
country.
◦ This is a scientific theory well supported by the evidence gathered by
cultural anthropologists.
Moral in USA Immoral in
Eating Beef India
Drinking alcohol, Gambling Middle Eastern Islamic Countries
Women in school or business Afghanistan
Women wearing shorts, face uncoverd Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan
2. Normative ethics
– hand-ons practical guides or norms
regarding which actions are right and
which are wrong
◦ Tell us how we should
act in particular
situations
◦ Example: Five Precepts
of Buddha
3. Theoretical ethics / Metaethics
• Concerned with appraising the logical foundations and
internal consistencies of ethical systems
• Meta from Greek – ‘about’ or ‘above’
• Tell us on why we should act
• Examples:
[Link] is the meaning of moral terms or judgments? (moral
semantics)
◦ Asks about the meanings of such words as 'good', 'bad', 'right' and
'wrong’ …THE VALUE
[Link] is the nature of moral judgments?
◦ Asks questions of whether moral judgments are universal or relative, of
one kind or many kinds, etc.
Statements
◦Morality is derived from a person's
relationship with their community
◦ NORMATIVE ETHICS
◦ The ethics of Confucianism
◦ Role ethics
◦Mary is a good person, or that stealing
and lying are always wrong.
◦ If the sentences is perceived, NOT JUST as
feelings BUT
◦ It express as propositions that can be true or
false.
◦ METAETHICS
◦ Ethical cognitivists (Cognitivism)
◦ The propositions are about the attitudes of people
◦ Looking at the Covid19 situation, 70% people in
Indonesia think they should stay at home
◦ This describe people’s opinion
◦ Judgements on rightness and wrongness
◦ DESCRIPTIVE ETHICS
Case study
◦ When posting materials to the class website, the
teacher accidently posts a test with answers
indicated at the end. The teacher notices the error
• Define the ethical issues
immediately and deletes the test, but before she
• Identify the affected
does so a student downloads the test.
parties (stakeholders)
◦ The website does not allow the teacher to see • Identify the obligations or
whether the test was downloaded, and because duties
she deleted the test with the answers so quickly, • Consider your character
the teacher later uploaded the same test without and integrity
the answers and required students to take the test.
◦ The Student Code of Ethics prohibits students
from taking a test when there is reason for them
to believe they have confidential information
regarding the answers to a test they are not
supposed to have.
◦ Violations of the Student Code of Ethics are
punishable.