August 14, 2010
By Robin Donovan

Saving money, saving lives and being environmentally friendly are oft-cited goals of research because they match societal values, but when ethical issues arise, scientists must consider the balance between progress and risk.

While nanoscience and nanotechnology pose few new ethical challenges compared to other emerging technology, these growing fields present an opportunity to incorporate the study of the ethical implications of science and technology into scientific curricula according to NQPI’s Dr. Arthur Zucker.

Zucker, a philosophy professor who has tackled applied ethics from business to medicine to nanotechnology, said, “Applied ethics is, in some sense, a lot of social and political philosophy. What are the roles of science and advances in technology in society?”

Advances in the beginnings nanotechnology and fields like medicine, computing, and communication are subject to value-related decisions. Questions such as, “What should scientists study?” and “What is a desirable outcome?” are at the core of applied ethics and social and political philosophy.

When ethics is integrated into existing courses, it becomes as much a part of the thought pattern of scientists as the scientific method. And that, Zucker wrote in an email, “just has to be a good thing.”