Does the Possession of Knowledge Carry an Ethical Responsibility

moment that no one except a select few has knowledge of. It is just waiting on the right price to be offered for its purchase. From an ethical standpoint to you would agree with the previous statement also of the free release of the cure to the people. This however is a decision that the creators of the cure will have to deal with for the duration of their lives. This however can be flipped around to the vice versa. What if the ethical thing to do in a situation is to withhold knowledge and keep it to oneself? There are many instances where this validation of reasoning holds true and can be upheld as logic for the making of one’s decision. What if the knowledge being withheld is more harmful than it will be helpful than it should be retained.  An example can be found in the Barry Bonds steroids scandal that began the cascade of athletes falling because of the failures to pass random drug tests. This scarred the great name of baseball forever and spoiled the great reputation it had as the American pastime. This was a personal matter that could have been handled privately, this knowledge did not and not and should not have been publicized for the whole world to see and develop new thoughts of what American baseball is. It just represents a bunch of men who would do whatever it takes to make money rather than play a game for the fun of it and the enjoyment of others. However a recurring theme constantly keeps popping up in this conversation. The idea of money in this issue and what role it plays in this debate of ethical responsibility is a very important factor in this whole debate. Money influences a person greatly when he or she is faced with making a decision. Businessman are faced with this decision every day, which decision will make me more money in the long run or strategically will be most beneficial to my particular needs. So in the case of a scientist who conjured up a new idea that everyone wants; money will probably be the sole decider on who he shares the knowledge with. We can take into account the use and discovery of fission and fusion which lead to the creation of the atomic bomb. It was responsible for the end of World War II and the deaths of over 200,000 Japanese civilians in the dropping over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There were economic and financial benefits in winning the war so as a result the bomb was made for the allies to drop on Japan to end the war as it was becoming loathsome to have to keep spending billions of dollars on a war that was seeing no progress. So in the end you can say that money at the end of it all was the motive for the dropping of the bomb in affect to end the war which was taking so much out of America such as lives, supplies and most importantly to the upper-class of society which was and still is making most of these decisions was the money.  So the nuclear bomb was created knowing that it would be the spark of a new era of warfare. Nuclear warfare which I believe will one day be our means to and end when the world is dissolved in a nuclear war.  Moving forward we can clearly see however the sense for reasoning in this whole process of the retention or distribution of knowledge is very important. If you happen to be the person that can help somebody wouldn’t you. There are certain instances that it is acceptable to do so and other times when it is not. For example during a test it is unacceptable to aide a fellow classmate because that is categorized as cheating and this does no good to the person who is being helped as is it is only giving them momentary aide to a problem they are having on a test rather than helping him learn the concept he or she should have learned in the first place. The test is meant to examine whether the student is smart and responsible enough to obtain the information from class or the books.  When you help them pass a test they couldn't have passed on their own then you're helping an incompetent person to get a degree and that's ethically proper. Of course there's a shady area here for some give and take when your fellow classmate merely forgot some lengthy and complex formula but does remember how to implement and apply it and what it stands for then it's not a crime or considered wrong to help them out. While offering the student aide beforehand in preparation for the test is an acceptable form of sharing knowledge and ethically proper in assuring that everyone is given a fair chance at making a good grade on the test. This logic can also be applied to everyone’s life in that in that the decisions you make in life are clear representations on what ethically someone felt the need to tell you or to withhold from you. A teacher chooses to teach you it is up to the student if he wishes to learn from the teacher.  The teacher knows that it is her responsibility to teach the students that’s why she is receiving the money she makes which motivates them even more to accomplish the task they have been set forth to accomplish. In closing though we can clearly see how the decisions of one individual affect the masses and not only himself. There are some instances where it is okay to withhold information and others where you must share the knowledge for the common good. How this is determined id by morally analyzing the situation and ethically making a decision that is right not just beneficial to you.