title: Notes on a pilgrimage to science: a fly on the wall.
abstract: The paper is a set of reflections on the moral culture of modern biology built around the author's experience as a participant observer in two university laboratories. I draw parallels between laboratory culture and organized religion and point out practical problems in conducting scientific research. The notion that good biologists must be atheists is questioned and failures of organized religion are noted. The paper concludes with a suggestion that research ethics should be rooted in laboratory practice and must include vigorous principles of honesty and justice. Those are not requirements imposed from outside but internal requirements of the research community.
authors.affiliation: Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions, Indiana University, 618 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN 47405-3602, USA. smithd@indiana.edu
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D001690:Biological Science Disciplines / Q000592:standards*; D002835:Christianity; D004989:Ethics; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards