FROM ETHICAL QUESTIONS TO THE DEONTOLOGY OF RESEARCH
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54695/dss.62.05.2908Keywords:
Good of mankind, Research ethics, Integrity and intellectual maturity, Progress of research, Scientific integrity, Regulation of research, Asilomar Declaration, Ethical autoregulation.Abstract
Considering that the development of cooperation
between nations in the field of science can contribute
to the common prosperity of mankind, in November
2017 UNESCO adopted a Recommendation concerning
science and scientific researchers.
Adopted by the general conference composed of the
representatives of the organisation’s 193 member states,
the Recommendations, by defining the standards, are
intended to influence the development of national
legislations and practices.
This recommendation should put an end to a widespread
confusion that leads many writers to refer unwisely to
ethics or deontology. It clearly distinguishes ethical
problems raised by innovations and technological applications, which come within the scope of the researchers’
social responsibility, and the deontology of research, a
set of rules and duties which meets the expectations
of society.
Society places its hope in research and progress, but it
fears them and requires rigour and integrity from the
researcher.
Artificial intelligence reveals this ambiguity. The risks
linked to the disappearance of regulation structures and
the domination of the giants of the Net at the expense of
individual freedom require from UNESCO a realisation
and an assertion of its moral authority.
