4th EucheMs chemistry congress

wednesday, 29-Aug 2012
s630
chem. Listy 106, s587–s1425 (2012)
Education and History, Professional chemists Ethics, Employability, labels
special symposium: Ethics in science – i
o - 2 7 8
BetrAyAL in the LAB – internAL ethiCS of
SCienCe
J. MehLiCh 1
1 Europäische Akademie GmbH, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler,
Germany
Science ethics is one of the relevant and often debated fields
in the area of “Applied ethics”. Apart from several controversies
it is agreed upon distinguishing two levels of ethics: internal
ethics as role ethics focus on the behavior of a scientist within the
scientific community, whereas external ethics as causal action
ethics describe the implications and external concerns of a
scientist’s actions. While the latter are addressed by technology
assessment (involving sociology, regulatory issues, governance,
and others), this presentation focusses on the former approach,
dealing with issues of fraud, betrayal and other kinds of
misbehavior that, unfortunately, are more up-to-date than ever.
Recently several prominent examples of betrayal in
scientific practice are publicly discussed. Betrayal in this context
means either deceptive behavior such as forgery and invention of
research results, the publication of other people’s results under
the own name (plagiarism), or insufficient information about
references and knowledge or finance sources. According to a poll
by Nature in 2005, 30% of the 3200 participating scientists
confessed to have betrayed already in one or another way. Motives
reach from academic publishing pressure to financial incentives
of sponsors. Ethical values (or virtues) that make a stand against
this phenomenon are intellectual honesty and truthfulness,
bringing the scientist to commit himself to objective truth
seeking and truth assurance.
Another aspect often raised is the call for objectivity and
dedicated disinterestedness. The selfless devotion to the
ambitious goal of knowledge increase should not be blurred by
selfish careerism or the interests of any sponsors. Methods for
obtaining these ideals are systematized doubt and disciplined
self-control. Apart from that, it is justified to expect fairness from
a scientist towards his colleagues and competitors.
Keywords: Sustainable Chemistry; Ethics of science;
special symposium: Ethics in science – i
4 th EucheMs chemistry congress
o - 2 7 9
ethiCAL ProBLeMS in South AfriCAn
eduCAtion
J. vAn der weSthuizen 1
1 University of the Free State, Chemistry, Bloemfontein,
Republic of South Africa
The political transformation since 1994 has solved major
ethical and moral issues in South Africa. However, a number of
well-intentioned but ill-conceived initiatives have wreaked havoc
in primary and secondary education. Consequently, tertiary
education is threatened. The universities are overwhelmed by
poorly prepared, academically illiterate students. Government
subsidy is determined by the number of students passed and the
number of ISI publications, irrespective of quality. So we neglect
the bright and waste energy on the weak. The National Research
Foundation is baffled by an inverse relationship between the
number of publications and the number of patents. Research for
the subsidy has replaced research for curiosity or utility at many
universities.
Without students very little funding is available for research
to build our CVs and careers. Should I write the student’s thesis
myself? Either I do so or accept a poorly written script. Some
researchers claim that it is easier to do the research as well.
Scientific careers are built on a plethora of trivial papers.
A principled approach might carry a price tag. Mediocre and
dishonest bureaucrats, often in well-entrenched positions, do not
tolerate criticism. It is easy to make enemies who can destroy your
career. If you resist too much, you will be replaced by a less well
qualified person who will pass more students. Is it ethical to claim
to be an excellence driven university when this is the case?
In my opinion, speaking out against wrongs, unethical
practices and dishonesty is the ultimate ethical requirement.
Ethical behaviour requires actions that are not in our short-term
interest. Should I show empathy towards poor students and take
non-academic issues (poverty and lack of background) into
account and pass their poor academic skills on to their future
employers and society at large? How do I act in everyone’s best
interest?
Keywords: South African Education; Chemistry Ethics;
Subsidy Driven Research;
AUGUst 26–30, 2012, PrAGUE, cZEcH rEPUbLIc