FROM ETHICAL QUESTIONS TO THE DEONTOLOGY OF RESEARCH
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3917/dsso.063.0070Keywords:
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.
