Fundaments of ethics for scientists and engineers

Author(s): Seebauer, Edmund G.; Barry, Robert L.
Document type: Book
Year: 2001
Pages: 269
Source: Publishing house: Oxford University Press
Language(s): English

Classification

National background: United States
Category: Non-EU Training Material for Research Ethics
Subject areas: General/not specified
Focus: Sub-focus: science and engineering
Content: Case studies; Ethical theories; Normative reflections
Issues touched: Beneficence, non-maleficence, risk for the subject Justice, benefits/burdens, research without benefit for the subject, placebos/standard therapy; Protection of privacy, data protection, biological material; Social impact of research, economic benefits, risks for third parties Social background of research, conflicts of interest, researcher vs. doctor, commercialisation Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism; Research on animals
Audience: Engineers; Scientists
Classification remarks: Research ethics lies not in the direct focus of the book. However, as research is an integral part of science and engineering, aspects of research ethics appear throughout the entire book.

Estimation

Theoretical quality remarks: The book examines important, and rather sophisticated questions of ethics, such as "The person and the virtues" (chap. 2), "analysing exterior/interior acts/chap. 3 and 4), "towards a hierachy of moral rules" (chap. 5), "moral judgments" (chap. 6 and 7) and "moral responsibility (chap. 8). Unit 3 (chap. 9-12) deals with questions of justice and unit 4 (chap. 13-16) with "advanced topics" such as "resource allocation", "risk" and "habit and intuition".
Didactical quality: Didactically prepared material
Didactical quality remarks: Each chapter contains a case study. In addition each chapter contains at its end several fictional case studies in dialog form. "Problems" are listed for discussion.
Overall estimation: worth considering
Estimation remarks: The focus of the book lies on ethics for scientists and engineers in general. Research ethics appears rather implicitly, but throughout the entire book. Examples of case studies are: the Tuskegee study, scientific tests using animals, problems with peer preview, drug testing in humans and human cloning. Special attention is paid to risk and risk evalutation.