Moral Responsibility in Science

Abstract

What does moral responsibility in science mean? Are experienced scientists more responsible than junior scientists? What responsibility lies with the scientific community? For what are scientists responsible? Do scientists have a responsibility for the applications of their findings? To whom are scientists responsible? Do scientists have a responsibility to future generations and to animals used in research? Is there a ‘real’ moral responsibility in distinction to the responsibility ascribed to scientists by different social groups? What light does the proposed modified social model of moral responsibility shed on the social activity of science? How can the approach of imaginative casuistry be used by scientists? These are some of the questions to be discussed in this chapter.