Do Scientists Have Any Special Moral Obligations? 
Faisal Al Saud
November 12, 2012 1. Topic: Consider the extent to which knowledge issues in ethics are similar to those in at least one other area of knowledge Do scientists have any ‘special’ moral obligations? Or should science seek to be free from any values and morals? This has been a popular topic that has been discussed throughout not only this century but also, centuries previous to us. While looking at natural sciences and ethics we can see that these two areas of knowledge are quite similar, specifically when looking at theories of ethics and how it can be implemented towards natural sciences. Using reason we can identify this and emotion in order to determine that scientist do not have a moral obligation and should not seek to be free from any values and morals. This will be proven by comparing scientist that have used moral obligations such as the Arabs during the Islamic Golden Age and this is proof that science can prosper when scientists have a moral obligation. But there are also different perspectives of this issue with some people arguing that we are in a different century when the backbone of society has shifted towards science and that we must give science freedom in order to prosper more in the future. This is evident in real life from an article in the Daily Mail, which stated that a scientist took a sapling from Norway, which was infected with a disease in order to accomplish a science experiment. The result was that the disease has spread throughout England killing around 200,000 trees in the process. This article is evident about the theory that scientists need to have a moral obligation such as everyone else in society has to oblige to. The reason being that if scientist get to avoid obligations then this will go against the ethical approach of Kant which states that no individual should be given preferential treatment. This is demonstrated in the given example by showing how a scientist got a sapling into a country with a
November 12, 2012 1. Topic: Consider the extent to which knowledge issues in ethics are similar to those in at least one other area of knowledge Do scientists have any ‘special’ moral obligations? Or should science seek to be free from any values and morals? This has been a popular topic that has been discussed throughout not only this century but also, centuries previous to us. While looking at natural sciences and ethics we can see that these two areas of knowledge are quite similar, specifically when looking at theories of ethics and how it can be implemented towards natural sciences. Using reason we can identify this and emotion in order to determine that scientist do not have a moral obligation and should not seek to be free from any values and morals. This will be proven by comparing scientist that have used moral obligations such as the Arabs during the Islamic Golden Age and this is proof that science can prosper when scientists have a moral obligation. But there are also different perspectives of this issue with some people arguing that we are in a different century when the backbone of society has shifted towards science and that we must give science freedom in order to prosper more in the future. This is evident in real life from an article in the Daily Mail, which stated that a scientist took a sapling from Norway, which was infected with a disease in order to accomplish a science experiment. The result was that the disease has spread throughout England killing around 200,000 trees in the process. This article is evident about the theory that scientists need to have a moral obligation such as everyone else in society has to oblige to. The reason being that if scientist get to avoid obligations then this will go against the ethical approach of Kant which states that no individual should be given preferential treatment. This is demonstrated in the given example by showing how a scientist got a sapling into a country with a