Phil 7570, Fall 2006

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Social Responsibility in Science,or Who is
Responsible?

• Phil 7570, Fall 2006
• Bryan Benham

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Thanks to the Faculty!

• Leslie Francis (Phil Law)
• Kathi Mooney (Nursing)
• Caren Frost (Soc Work)
• Kim Korinek (Sociology)
• Rachel Hayes-Harb (Linguistics)
• Frank Whitby (Biochem)
• Tom Richmond (Chemistry)

• David Grunwald (Genetics)
• Dana Carroll (Biochem)
• Barbara Graves (Onc Sci)
• Michael Kay (Biochem)
• Janet Lindsley (Biochem)
• Jim Metherall (Genetics)
• Carlie Murtaugh (Genetics)
• Marty Rechsteiner (Biochem)
• Alice Schmid (Genetics)
• Katie Ullman (Onc Sci)

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• Imagination is more important than knowledge.
  For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination
  embraces the entire world, stimulating progress,
  giving birth to evolution.
• Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

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Why is imagination important?
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• Scientific Imagination
• and
• Moral Imagination

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• Scientific Imagination
• Concerned with advancing knowledge technology

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• Scientific Imagination
• Concerned with advancing knowledge technology
• Moral Imagination
• Concerned with understanding the implications of
  knowledge and technology

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• Scientific Imagination
• Concerned with advancing knowledge technology
• Moral Imagination
• Concerned with understanding the implications of
  knowledge and technology
• Both are an integral part of research,
• of being a scientist

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• Most of what we did in this course was aimed at
  demonstrating that both scientific and moral
  imagination are important, and unavoidable
  features of science

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Course Objectives

• Increase ethical sensitivity to issues regarding
  RCR
• Aid in developing moral reasoning skills via
  case studies
• Acquaint with relevant policies, procedures, and
  professional standards of ethical research

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Course Objectives

• Increase ethical sensitivity to issues regarding
  RCR
• Aid in developing moral reasoning skills via
  case studies
• Acquaint with relevant policies, procedures, and
  professional standards of ethical research

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Central Dogma

• The focus of the course is not merely the legal
  or explicit regulations, but identifying and
  employing the underlying ethical principles and
  values that guide responsible research, so that
  one can (ideally) navigate the rocky shoals and
  murky waters of daily research practice.

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Balancing Three Questions

• What rules or principles apply?
• What are the consequences?
• Whose interests are involved?

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• Identifying and balancing the three types of
  questions requires a degree of moral imagination
• Next I want to try to extend this to broader
  social responsibilities

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• Do research scientists have special
  responsibilities to society?
• YES

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Ruth Ellen BulgerProfessor of Anatomy,
Physiology, and Genetics at the Uniformed
Services University of the Health Sciences,
Bethesda, Maryland.

• Just how far does the commitment of scientists
  to society extend? There is agreement among
  scientists on a commitment to doing research in
  an honest, trustworthy, competent, and ethical
  manner. There is a general commitment to ethical
  conduct in research with human volunteers and in
  treating animal subjects in a humane and
  respectful way. There is a growing awareness of
  the importance of educating and working with the
  public on scientific and ethical issues .
  However, there is less agreement among
  scientists on how best to deal with pressing
  social issues brought about by scientific
  developments

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Expanding Circle of Concerns for RCR
Research Practice
Professional Relations
Research Subjects Other Commitments
Social Responsibilities
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Expanding Circle of Concerns for RCR
Research Practice
Professional Relations
Research Subjects Other Commitments
Social Responsibilities
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Expanding Circle of Concerns for RCR
Research Practice
Professional Relations
Research Subjects Other Commitments
Social Responsibilities
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Expanding Circle of Concerns for RCR
Research Practice
Professional Relations
Research Subjects Other Commitments
Social Responsibilities
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Expanding Circle of Concerns for RCR
Research Practice
Professional Relations
Research Subjects Other Commitments
Social Responsibilities?
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Do scientists have special responsibilities to
society?

• YES
• In part because we already recognize
  responsibilities in research practice, toward
  human/animal subjects, public source of funding,
  etc.
• What about other areas?

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Responsibility to/for

• Future implications or applications of discovery?
• Shaping and deciding social and public policy?
• National and/or global interests?
• defense, economy, human welfare, etc.

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Future implications or applications of discovery?

• Consider
• E mc2 and Manhattan project.no, but
• rDNA and?
• Asilomar conference, 1975
• GM foods, animals, and humans?
• HGP
• DOE and NIH devoted 3-5 of annual budget to
  ethical, social, and legal issues ELSI

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Shaping and deciding social and public policy?

• Consider
• Climate science (global warming)
• Stem cells and cloning
• Health policy
• Neurosciences and behavioral genetics in legal
  and social practices
• Science and Politics?

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National and/or global interests?

• Human Welfare?
• AIDS, malaria, etc.
• Food, energy, etc.
• Economic?
• Biotech industry
• Commercial innovation via discovery
• Defense?
• WW II efforts (Manhattan project) vs. post-WWII
  efforts (e.g., Hydrogen bomb) cold-war?
• War on Terror and Biodefense?

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Hans BetheNobel Prize Physics 1967

• WWII worked on radar atomic bomb
• But distinguished between
• War-time research in the face of aggressor
• Weapons research without imminent war
• Current war on terrorism? DoD, DoE, DARPA
• Biodefense?
• Brain Research?
• Moreno, J. D. (2006). The role of brain research
  in national defense. The Chronicle of Higher
  Education, November 10.

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Arthur CaplanDirector of the Center for
Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania

• But the greatest threat to the control and
  dissemination of research is this marriage with
  the military and anti-terrorist activities. The
  scientific community hasnt given five minutes of
  thought to how to preserve their rights to
  publish and pick the topics they want. And
  theres no hesitancy on the part of DARPA to say
  You cant publish or You cant do this, this
  is ours. We own it.

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• Although there is room for disagreement
• In each case, the weight of these considerations
  favor the idea that scientists do indeed have
  special responsibilities to society

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Whence the special responsibility to society?

• Scientific knowledge has a lasting impact on
  society.
• The people who produce knowledge should be
  responsible for its consequences and uses.
• Scientific knowledge is meant to benefit society.
• Much research is relevant to formulating public
  policy.
• Scientific knowledge should be freely/openly
  available to members of society (not for
  private/elite use only).
• Scientific research supported by public
  resources.
• Scientists have special knowledge and expertise
  not available to everyone
• Science is a profession, with codes of ethics
  that often include social obligations.
• Scientists are members of society
  (citizen-scientists).

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But, most importantly

• because scientific research is embedded in a
  larger social and ethical context and this is an
  essential component of scientific research.
• Science is not removed from society

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Two worries about a special responsibility

• Values in science
• Individual vs. group responsibilities

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Facts vs. values?

• Science is not (strictly speaking) value-free or
  value-neutral
• Although it aims are objective, repeatable,
  empirically based knowledge
• Science is a human enterpriseso it is
  value-infused
• Consider how one pursues or promotes own
  research, how it is communicated, how decisions
  about funding and peer review are made, etc.
• Consider history (In the Name of Science)
• Consider controversial science

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History(From Katrin Weigmann, In the Name of
Science)

• Writing on the role of biologists in Nazi social
  policy
• Scientific theories and arguments were used to
  support the inferiority of other races
• It was scientific and medical methods,
  scientific and medical speech that were used in
  carrying out these crimes in the name of
  science.
• Scientists were too devoted to their peculiar
  field of research to ever reflect the
  consequences of their deeds.

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Controversial Science

• Scientific research that is, or is perceived to
  be, at odds with social values or goals suggests
  scientific research carries with it value
• Topics that breach sensitive issues
• Cloning/Stem-cell, GM agriculture, Sex Research,
  etc.
• Topics that are ideologically loaded
• IQ Research, AIDS and sexuality research, Global
  Warming, Evolution in Schools, etc.
• Topics that are beyond the pale of society
• Torture Techniques, Head-Transplant Surgery, etc.

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The Frankenstein Effect2
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Angry Mob Effect

• Public Overreaction
• Offense to Moral Sensibilities
• Demonizing Science
• Fear
• Threat to well-being
• Challenge to deeply held beliefs
• Lack of Understanding?

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Mad Scientist Effect

• Rejects Social Responsibility
• Value-Free Inquiry?
• Consequences not considered
• Paternalism science knows best
• Isolated from Society
• Poorly Educates Public
• (PR Failure?)
• Insensitive to Social Values

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Arthur CaplanDirector of the Center for
Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania

• You cant get very far in scientific research
  without values appearing, even in some strictly
  molecular activities. I would also say that you
  scare the public if you continue to assert that
  you dont think about the ethical aspects of what
  you are doing. The fear of the mad scientist
  isnt that he or she is mad, its that he or she
  is indifferent to the ethics of what they are
  doing.

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Responsibility and Imagination

• Understanding values
• Understanding implications of research
• Understanding the direction of science
• Individually and collectively
• Where it should or shouldnt go
• How it gets there

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Responsibility and Imagination

• Understand that research is done within a larger
  social and ethical context
• Realize a sense of personal responsibility for
  one's own research and one's place in society as
  a researcher
• Cant avoid the question of social
  responsibilityit is intrinsic to science

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George Brown, Jr.Congressional champion of
science at AAAS Colloquium on Science and
Technology, 1992.

• we need a new and better vision Neither
  technology nor economics can answer questions of
  values. Is our path into the future to be defined
  by the literally mindless process of
  technological evolution and economic expansion or
  by a conscious adoption of guiding moral
  precepts? Progress is meaningless if we dont
  know where were going. Unless we try to
  visualize what is beyond the horizon, we will
  always occupy the same shore.

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Imagine

• If not you who?

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If we dont play God, who will? James Watson
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With great power, comes great responsibility.
Uncle Ben to Peter Parker in Spider-Man
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Sources

• Bulger, Ruth Ellen. (2002). The scientist in
  society. In the Ethical Dimensions of the
  Biological and Health Sciences, 2nd ed. Cambridge
  University Press, 313-319.
• Weigmann, Katrin. (2001). In the name of science.
  EMBO reports 2, 871-875.
• Breithaupt, Holger, Hadley, Caroline. (2005).
  Interview with Arthur Caplan, building stairs
  into slippery slopes. EMBO reports 6, 8-12.
• Bethe, H. (1983). The ethical responsibilities of
  scientists weapons development rather than
  military research poses the most difficult
  questions. The Center Magazine, 16(5) 2-5.