Ethical virtues in scientific research.
Most approaches to promoting integrity in research are principle-based in that they portray ethical conduct as consisting of adherence to ethical rules, duties, or responsibilities. Bruce MacFarlane has recently criticized the principle-based approach to promoting integrity in research and offered a virtue-based alternative. MacFarlane argues that principle-based approaches do not provide adequate guidance for ethical decision-making and are not very useful in moral education. In this article, I examine and critique MacFarlane's defense of the virtue-based approach. I argue that virtue-based and principle-based approaches to ethics are complementary and that they both can help promote research integrity.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA. resnikd@niehs.nih.gov
David B
DB
Resnik
D003657:Decision Making; D028663:Ethical Theory; D032984:Ethics, Research / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D008611:Mentors; D028662:Principle-Based Ethics; D013663:Teaching; D028722:Virtues