Methods and Morals in the Life Sciences

Methods and Morals in the Life Sciences
Author: Wim J. van der Steen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2001-04-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0313075972

Most researchers would be amazed to discover that opinions they have about cherished themes in biology and medicine are biased. Van der Steen and Ho contend that logic and methodology are not well applied in biology and medicine, arguing that the impact of social and moral factors on claims within these two disciplines is underestimated. In response to this situation, Van der Steen and Ho present tools from logic and ethics for assessing existing literature. These tools will help to create sound articles and materials in the life sciences. After reviewing logic and methodological approaches, broad guidelines are used to place science in a social context. Examples from life sciences illustrate the implementation of logic, methodology, and guidelines in forty-five brief case studies. Each study includes comments on quoted and paraphrased passages from a single article or book. Cross-references facilitate the assimilation of lessons from the text. Students, researchers, and scholars in biology, biomedicine, philosophy, and ethics as applied to the life sciences will find this guide useful in improving their research and writing skills.

Life Science Ethics

Life Science Ethics
Author: Gary L. Comstock
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 496
Release: 2010-08-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9048187923

Does nature have intrinsic value? Should we be doing more to save wilderness and ocean ecosystems? What are our duties to future generations of humans? Do animals have rights? This revised edition of "Life Science Ethics" introduces these questions using narrative case studies on genetically modified foods, use of animals in research, nanotechnology, and global climate change, and then explores them in detail using essays written by nationally-recognized experts in the ethics field. Part I introduces ethics, the relationship of religion to ethics, how we assess ethical arguments, and a method ethicists use to reason about ethical theories. Part II demonstrates the relevance of ethical reasoning to the environment, land, farms, food, biotechnology, genetically modified foods, animals in agriculture and research, climate change, and nanotechnology. Part III presents case studies for the topics found in Part II.

Methods of Molecular Analysis in the Life Sciences

Methods of Molecular Analysis in the Life Sciences
Author: Andreas Hofmann
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2014-06-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1107044707

An accessible overview of the most popular and cutting-edge methods for studying the properties of molecules and their interactions.

The Ethical Dimensions of the Biological Sciences

The Ethical Dimensions of the Biological Sciences
Author: Ruth Ellen Bulger
Publisher:
Total Pages: 324
Release: 1993-05-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN:

This is the first systematically organised anthology on responsible conduct in scientific research aimed at students and practising researchers in the biological sciences. It has been designed in response to the increasing concern to teach graduate students about ethical issues in the biological sciences. The book contains classic essays and other published material and is carefully structured to explore a range of subjects: the qualifications for authorship; plagiarism; the use of human beings and animals in research; the norms of ethical conduct in science; scientific honesty and its relationship to gullibility and self-deception; ethical issues in laboratory work; the relation between science and society; the ethics of teaching and learning. The volume also provides insights into issues often not formally considered in graduate science education such as methods of scientific investigation, scientific paradigms and the creative process.

On the Dual Uses of Science and Ethics

On the Dual Uses of Science and Ethics
Author: Michael J. Selgelid
Publisher: ANU E Press
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2013-12-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1925021343

Claims about the transformations enabled by modern science and medicine have been accompanied by an unsettling question in recent years: might the knowledge being produced undermine – rather than further – human and animal well being? On the Dual Uses of Science and Ethics examines the potential for the skills, know-how, information, and techniques associated with modern biology to serve contrasting ends. In recognition of the moral ambiguity of science and technology, each chapter considers steps that might be undertaken to prevent the deliberate spread of disease. Central to achieving this aim is the consideration of what role ethics might serve. To date, the ethical analysis of the themes of this volume has been limited. This book remedies this situation by bringing together contributors from a broad range of backgrounds to address a highly important ethical issue confronting humanity during the 21st century.

Education and Ethics in the Life Sciences

Education and Ethics in the Life Sciences
Author: Brian Rappert
Publisher: ANU E Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2010-06-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1921666390

At the start of the twenty-first century, warnings have been raised in some quarters about how - by intent or by mishap - advances in biotechnology and related fields could aid the spread of disease. Science academics, medical organisations, governments, security analysts, and others are among those that have sought to raise concern. EDUCATION AND ETHICS IN THE LIFE SCIENCES examines a variety of attempts to bring greater awareness to security concerns associated with the life sciences. It identifies lessons from practical initiatives across a wide range of national contexts as well as more general reflections about education and ethics. The eighteen contributors bring together perspectives from a diverse range of fields - including politics, virology, sociology, ethics, security studies, microbiology, and medicine - as well as their experiences in universities, think tanks and government. In offering their assessment about what must be done and by whom, each chapter addresses a host of challenging practical and conceptual questions. EDUCATION AND ETHICS IN THE LIFE SCIENCES will be of interest to those planning and undertaking training activities in other areas. In asking how education and ethics are being made to matter in an emerging area of social unease, it will also be of interest to those with more general concerns about professional conduct.

A Practical Philosophy for the Life Sciences

A Practical Philosophy for the Life Sciences
Author: Wim J. van der Steen
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 1993-07-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780791416167

This book integrates philosophy of biology and philosophy of medicine with the purpose of making philosophy practical for students and scientists. It contains many exercises and examples from live science. Much attention is given to the translation of scientific reasoning into the language of philosophy. The author shows that philosophical models can be used to evaluate science, if the limitations of the models are recognized so they can be applied in the proper context. On the other hand, some philosophical views of science need to be corrected by science. The book puts philosophy and science in a broader perspective. It integrates practical philosophy and ethics in applications to live science and uncovers limitations of current ethical theory.

The Methods of Bioethics

The Methods of Bioethics
Author: John McMillan
Publisher: Issues in Biomedical Ethics
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2018-12-13
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0199603758

This is the first book in bioethics that explains how it is that you actually go about doing good bioethics. Bioethics has made a mistake about its methods, and this has led not only to too much theorizing, but also fragmentation within bioethics. The unhelpful disputes between those who think bioethics needs to be more philosophical, more sociological, more clinical, or more empirical, continue. While each of these claims will have some point, they obscure what should be common to all instances of bioethics. Moreover, they provide another phantom that can lead newcomers to bioethics down blind alleyways stalked by bristling sociologists and philosophers. The method common to all bioethics is bringing moral reason to bear upon ethical issues, and it is more accurate and productive to clarify what this involves than to stake out a methodological patch that shows why one discipline is the most important. This book develops an account of the nature of bioethics and then explains how a number of methodological spectres have obstructed bioethics becoming what it should. In the final part, it explains how moral reason can be brought to bear upon practical issues via an 'empirical, Socratic' approach.

Research Methodology

Research Methodology
Author: Peter Pruzan
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2016-02-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319271679

This book is an in-depth guide to effective scientific research. Ranging from the philosophical to the practical, it explains at the outset what science can – and can’t – achieve, and discusses its relationship to mathematics and laws. The author then pays extensive attention to the scientific method, including experimental design, verification, uncertainty and statistics. A major aim of the book is to help young scientists reflect upon the deeper aims of their work and make the best use of their talents in contributing to progress. To this end, it also includes sections on planning research, on presenting one’s findings in writing, as well as on ethics and the responsibilities of scientists.

Data Mining Techniques for the Life Sciences

Data Mining Techniques for the Life Sciences
Author: Oliviero Carugo
Publisher: Humana
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2016-08-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9781493956883

Most life science researchers will agree that biology is not a truly theoretical branch of science. The hype around computational biology and bioinformatics beginning in the nineties of the 20th century was to be short lived (1, 2). When almost no value of practical importance such as the optimal dose of a drug or the three-dimensional structure of an orphan protein can be computed from fundamental principles, it is still more straightforward to determine them experimentally. Thus, experiments and observationsdogeneratetheoverwhelmingpartofinsightsintobiologyandmedicine. The extrapolation depth and the prediction power of the theoretical argument in life sciences still have a long way to go. Yet, two trends have qualitatively changed the way how biological research is done today. The number of researchers has dramatically grown and they, armed with the same protocols, have produced lots of similarly structured data. Finally, high-throu- put technologies such as DNA sequencing or array-based expression profiling have been around for just a decade. Nevertheless, with their high level of uniform data generation, they reach the threshold of totally describing a living organism at the biomolecular level for the first time in human history. Whereas getting exact data about living systems and the sophistication of experimental procedures have primarily absorbed the minds of researchers previously, the weight increasingly shifts to the problem of interpreting accumulated data in terms of biological function and bio- lecular mechanisms.