Ethics

in the Professions and in Science

some definitions, based in part on the Webster's:

Ethics: code of behavior based on a set of values.

Profession: a vocation or occupation requiring advanced training in some liberal art or science; or, the collective body of persons engaged in or practicing a particular calling or vocation.

Vocation: a call, summons, or impulsion to perform a certain function or enter a certain career, especially a religious one; or, the function or career toward which one believes himself to be called.

Why are we discussing this?

This course is, after all, called "Introduction to the Professions", and it is properly a part of the life of the professional to think about what kinds of behavior are appropriate in his or her profession. If the decision-makers in the profession share a set of values at least to a sufficient degree that these values drive the development of a code of behavior, then that code of behavior will constitute the ethics associated with that profession. In some cases these decision-makers may have lived a generation or more prior to the age in which those ethics are expressed in a particular profession. Note that here we are treating a profession, such as one of the sciences, as a human activity: an activity that humans engage in, sometimes individually, sometimes in groups.

How does ethical behavior in the professions differ from any other moral behavior?

In many cases, it doesn't. But because the moral issues confronting professionals in a particular field may differ from those in another field or outside the professional world, there are sometimes benefits to sharing our concerns over these issues with colleagues who (a) share our values, or at least some of them; (b) understand the issues themselves; and (c) understand the professional context of those issues. Furthermore, the community of human practitioners of a particular profession has in many cases developed some values to a greater or lesser degree than the population as a whole, and these "moral specializations" are likely to be reflected in the ethics of the profession.

What sorts of ideas tend to be embodied in professional ethics?

• general definitions of:
  • the field itself
  • the field's aims or mission
  • the moral implications of the field
  • appropriate conduct by practitioners
• specific statements regarding:
  • honesty
  • assignment of credit for ideas and efforts
  • methods of handling conflict
  • responsibilities to sponsoring entities and to truth
  • sharing of responsibilities in group efforts

How universal are the ethics of science?

They vary from place, from time to time, and from one field of science to another, but these differences tend to be small. It's rare that a particular act would be considered unethical (outside the code) in one scientific field and condoned in another; it would be more common for a particular act to be so unlikely in a particular field or location that its prohibition would be needless, whereas grappling with that issue will be crucial in some other field.

Some specifics:

Scientists will:

• plan and perform experiments objectively, insofar as is possible.
• report, interpret, and analyze all relevant results, even those contrary to the author's hypothesis.
• assign credit in public (including in decisions on authorship of papers) such that those responsible for the efforts are acknowledged appropriately.
• maintain courtesy and address scientific issues in the event of conflict.
• make all significant results as public as possible, given (in some cases) limitations on disclosure that are imposed by sponsoring entities.
• be sufficiently familiar with all aspects of jointly-authored research so as to minimize the likelihood that mistakes or fraudulent acts on the parts of colleagues become parts of the published work.
• be conscious of the environmental and safety implications of the conduct of their research.
• engage in realms of science in which the final goals of the studies include benefits to humankind and nature.

Scientists will not:

• dry-lab, i.e. alter or artificially constuct data and represent it as real data.
• ignore or suppress significant results during the interpretation and analysis phases.
• use other people's ideas or efforts in research without proper acknolwedgement.
• engage in ad hominem attacks or obfuscate real issues in conflicts.
• keep results secret without good cause.
• allow bad work from colleagues to be released through lack of oversight.
• perform unsafe or environmentally destructive experiments.
• engage in studies that support evil or corrupt political systems or facilitate unjust war.

Where do these ideas come from: what are the morals underlying this?

• mostly it's the Tao or the Golden Rule.
• some elements of practical careersmanship.
• some specific elements of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic world view.
  does that mean I can't be a scientist if I'm a Jainist or a Zoroastrian?
  no: ethical issues and the solutions to ethical problems cross boundaries between belief systems

How do ethics play out in an undergraduate science major's life at IIT?

• If you're involved in research, then all the ideas we've just introduced apply directly to your research.
• As you perform academic lab-work, the rules about dry-labbing and attributing credit carry over.
• In lecture classes as well as labs:
  Cheating happens at IIT, as it does at other universities. Some students become adept at cutting corners. Who is really harmed by this?
  1. The perpetrators, who get distinctions they don't deserve and may get put in positions of authority for which they lack the skills or learning to execute that authority.
  2. Their classmates, who suffer a loss of morale, and whose grades may go down due to distortions in curves.
  3. The patients of the future doctors, veterinarians, dentists, and other providers of services.
  4. The scientific community.
  What can we say about cheating at IIT?
  • Plagiarizing external information is wrong, and you probably will be caught. If you can find a document on the web and present it or a segment of it as your own, your professor can find it as easily as you did.
  • Plagiarizing work of your peers is also wrong, and you'll probably be caught in this situation too.
  • Sharing results on homework assignments is sometimes allowed or even encouraged, but not always. Ask your professor if you're not sure.
  • Copying other people's work on tests is theft. Faculty members are getting smarter and more cynical about this kind of cheating, and we're agressively pursuing the perpetrators.
  Does IIT as an institution have ethical standards?
  YES: they're articulated in the student handbook. We do not have an honor code of the sort found in a military school, although the ROTC programs do have one. So as a non-ROTC student, you are not considered culpable if you are aware of dishonesty on the part of another student and you fail to report it. But the consequences of cheating or of acquiescing in cheating are severe.