Science: The Importance Of Ethics In Modern Science

990 Words4 Pages
Science was once a dangerous business. Galileo Galilee avoided the same fate of Giordano Bruno who was burned at stake for his free thinking in science and philosophy, by renouncing to support Copernicus’ “Heliocentric” views. The days of autodafes are over now, and modern science plays an important influence on the development of society. Though scientific progress is rapid and astonishing; it is still disturbing people exercising the application of science and technologies. Scientists should address the ensuing ethical values both in general and particular terms. The word, ‘ethics’ coming from the Gk word, ‘ethos, ' means custom or behavior. Since the time of Aristotle, who originally proposed the concept of ethics and ‘ethical theory’ – dealing with the study of human behavior, ethics plays a major role in Western Philosophy when social and individual values are in debate. Today, ‘ethics’ means moral which arises from the Latin word, ‘more, ' meaning custom and behavior likewise. Moralists like Nietzsche, Santayana, and Russell claim ethical values as personal deliberations rather than general perception. But John Ziman, former chairman of the Council for Science and Society, interprets ethics as a way of dealing with different opinions forming when traditional values are faced with new realities. In a static society, values are usually codified by religion or tradition. Wars, invasions, new culture or religion prompt the evaluation of traditional values. French and