I have wondered for a long time about the subject at hand. If some information has been gathered by illegal or cruel methods, should it be righteous to use?
Example A: During the horrible holocaust years in Germany, the doctors (or some "scientists") found out many things about human structure, behavior etc. Because it's illegal to study people the way they did, can we use the information they have written down? Wouldn't it be unethical?
Example B: The medicine and cosmetics industry have tested their products on animals for decades. Nowadays they don't or shouldn't do that anymore. Can they still use the information about previous animal tests although they wouldn't approve their methods? This is kind of an extension to Example A. Can you judge the others and then use their knowledge?
Example C: In a TV show You are what you eat, they set up a table with everything a fat person of the show has eaten during a period of time. It's usually full of delicious food, like chips and coke. Delicious but unhealthy. Now, will the TV production team eat all content on the table afterwards or will they throw it in the garbage pin because it's so unhealthy for anyone to eat and drink? What about the poor countries, the developing ones? Should the food be carried to them instead? Wait, isn't it just as unhealthy for them? What should be done with the table full of leftovers then? Isn't that a waste of waste, LOL?
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Interesting moral dilemma indeed. You will be amazed how much of modern medicine is in fact built upon knowledge accumulated in the ancient times when ethics was unheard of. Internal medicine must be deeply indebted to thousands of executed prisoners whose bodies were normally sold to medical universities to be dissected.
ReplyDeleteIn short, a significant amount of knowledge of the ancients was gained very unethically. Is it then ethical for us in the modern times to make use of that kind of knowledge, if that would mean solution to many of our ills? Does the end then justify the means? Read more on "consequentialism" at wiki.
Thanks for your thoughtful thoughts. It's not the same thing but in TV series when a dirty cop gets caught, all criminals he has arrested and testified against are set free. That kind of equals of not using medicine developed under criminal activities.
ReplyDeletemogLi, I know so much research is based on unethical access to information. How do we control that today when we do have a higher sense of morality and scientific process.
ReplyDeleteSmek! I think my brain for a Saturday morning is about to explode. But do post if you more information. I know there's a whole field to medical science dedicated to ethics.
Well, if I made any damage to your brain by digging more information on this, it wouldn't be ethically correct behavior from my point of view, would it? :)
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