Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to Should science be guided by morality?

Science itself? No.
Mary Anne — (archived)

Applied science, yes.

Science is a quest for truth. Applied science gives us avenues to use pure science in ways that affect others.

The word you might be looking for is "ethics" rather than "morality". Morality is a personal code of right and wrong, sometimes bestowed by religion through the family. Ethics is a system that describes right and wrong behavior for a group to which the individual belongs. There can be conflict between personal morals and group ethics, and between the ethical sets of two separate groups, even two groups to which the same individual belongs.

Now, sometimes the pursuit of scientific knowledge involves use of applied science in ways that some find ethically objectionable. Involuntary human experimentation is one such circumstance; animal experimentation, under some circumstances, is another. Even in cases like these, I can't say I believe the scientific questions themselves are wrong, nor the quest for answers to them. We do need to think with care about how we use our tools to get at the answers, though.

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