Ethical judgments limit the methods available in the production of knowledge in both the arts and the natural sciences. Discuss.

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1. Ethical judgments limit the methods available in the production of knowledge in both the arts and the natural sciences. Discuss.

Moral judgments restrict the tools available in the creation of knowledge in both the arts and natural sciences. As ethical procedures are a variable element, the two areas explored under this concept tend to overlap in some ways. Ethical judgments can be termed as “the moral principles governing or influencing conduct, leading up to a broader question that is ‘What falls under this category of morally correct?’ and to what extent can we allow ethics to govern knowledge production?

To a certain extent ethical judgments can be considered to be ambiguous and compartmentalizing every situation as right or wrong becomes impractical after a point. For every person, their culture and society defines this particular term differently; the influencing factor continues to be perception that is instrumental in the transformation of a moral judgment into an ethical dilemma conflicting between one’s emotions and reasoning abilities. Is judgment as a whole ethical? The very definition for ethics varies between different cultures and communities; this question in essence restricts man’s ability to explore the realms of knowledge. Do ethics help in the functioning of society or merely place boundaries on the inquisitive human mind? Further, who defines what is ethical and what is not, how can we so easily accept a certain action to abide by ethics and another to not?

Natural Science is a branch of science that deals with the physical world; it is a combination of biology, physics, chemistry, and geology. Natural Science looks to decode the very scientific rules that dictate the natural world. In the larger picture taking into consideration only natural sciences, various governing bodies also judge ethics differently in various fields of study; for example the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry governs chemistry. In this case what method do these bodies make in their respective fields of study to objectify ethical procedure; do they make sure that production of knowledge is not affected by their rules or are these rules meant for public appeasement? The establishment of these ‘rules’ can easily restrict the production of knowledge.

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 As of the 21st century many ethical issues persistently face Natural Science, by placing ethical impositions on this field of natural science aren’t we indirectly placing ethical impositions on the natural world itself? Striking a balance between the continuing of research in all fields of natural science is necessary but doesn’t it contribute to the limiting of knowledge itself? What prefixed criterion does this lie under?

From frog dissections in high schools to something as big of an issue as animal testing, they have the tendency to take it to a level that the concept of ethics invariably gets drawn in. ...

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