| Title |
The Ethics of Doing Ethics
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Science and Engineering Ethics, March 2016
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s11948-016-9772-3 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Sven Ove Hansson |
| Abstract |
Ethicists have investigated ethical problems in other disciplines, but there has not been much discussion of the ethics of their own activities. Research in ethics has many ethical problems in common with other areas of research, and it also has problems of its own. The researcher's integrity is more precarious than in most other disciplines, and therefore even stronger procedural checks are needed to protect it. The promotion of some standpoints in ethical issues may be socially harmful, and even our decisions as to which issues we label as "ethical" may have unintended and potentially harmful social consequences. It can be argued that ethicists have an obligation to make positive contributions to society, but the practical implications of such an obligation are not easily identified. This article provides an overview of ethical issues that arise in research into ethics and in the application of such research. It ends with a list of ten practical proposals for how these issues should be dealt with. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 15 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 5 | 33% |
| United States | 2 | 13% |
| France | 1 | 7% |
| Russia | 1 | 7% |
| Canada | 1 | 7% |
| Norway | 1 | 7% |
| Germany | 1 | 7% |
| Unknown | 3 | 20% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 9 | 60% |
| Scientists | 4 | 27% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 2 | 13% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 58 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1 | 2% |
| Chile | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 56 | 97% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 13 | 22% |
| Student > Postgraduate | 9 | 16% |
| Researcher | 6 | 10% |
| Other | 4 | 7% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 3 | 5% |
| Other | 14 | 24% |
| Unknown | 9 | 16% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Science | 10 | 17% |
| Philosophy | 9 | 16% |
| Social Sciences | 6 | 10% |
| Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 4 | 7% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 3 | 5% |
| Other | 14 | 24% |
| Unknown | 12 | 21% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 23. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 25 February 2021.
All research outputs
#1,611,747
of 25,196,456 outputs
Outputs from Science and Engineering Ethics
#120
of 957 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#26,119
of 306,460 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Science and Engineering Ethics
#3
of 14 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,196,456 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 93rd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 957 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.5. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 306,460 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 91% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 14 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 85% of its contemporaries.