Ethical Virtues in Scientific Research

Abstract

Most approaches to promoting integrity in research are principle-based in that they portray ethical conduct as consisting of adherence to ethical rules, duties, or responsibilities. Bruce MacFarlane has recently criticized the principle-based approach to promoting integrity in research and offered a virtue-based alternative. MacFarlane argues that principle-based approaches do not provide adequate guidance for ethical decision-making and are not very useful in moral education. In this article, I examine and critique MacFarlane’s defense of the virtue-based approach. I argue that virtue-based and principle-based approaches to ethics are complementary and that they both can help promote research integrity.

Public Health Ethics and Conflict of Interests

“…3 The problem is that these codes of conduct based on pre-established rules may not respond to the specific research needs. I point four examples of ethical issues raised by conflicts of interests:…”

“…3 Although this proposal has roots in the Aristotelian model of 'virtue ethics', it overcomes this perspective by including a circumstantial element based on the research context.…”

“…3 "If we accept the principle of applying ethical principles to decision-making, informed by evidence and theory, it makes sense to widen the concept of logic modelling to 'ethical logic modelling', using the decision-making triangle rather than evidence and theory alone to judge what actions should and should not be included and implemented".…”

Should Euthanasia Be Considered Iatrogenic?

“…Countries of the so-called "Mediterranean bioethical zone" [21] often apply a form of virtue ethics emphasizing moral character and frequently prefer medical paternalism that favors preserving life above all else [27,28]. In Southern European countries such as Italy and Portugal, laws often align with a form of ontological personalism, whereby human life, beginning at conception, is fully protected [21].…”

Virtue ethics of clinical research

“…Ethics in the context of clinical research is nowadays dominated by principles and regulations,[5] which provide a manageable, sometimes simplistic, idea of the good, and demand very little personal engagement from the researcher. [3]…”