Margaret Urban Walker
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195315394
- eISBN:
- 9780199872053
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195315394.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
This chapter traces the emergence of a theoretical-juridical model of moral theory in the work of English utilitarian philosopher Henry Sidgwick's masterwork, The Methods of Ethics. Through a series ...
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This chapter traces the emergence of a theoretical-juridical model of moral theory in the work of English utilitarian philosopher Henry Sidgwick's masterwork, The Methods of Ethics. Through a series of theoretical exclusions and distinctions among morality and ethics, Sidgwick constructs the idea of a pure core of moral knowledge that can be captured by a compact moral system that is formally and practically superior to the supposed diversity of methods in commonsense morality. Sidgwick exhibits unusual self-consciousness in asking whom a scientific ethics is intended to serve, and with unusual candor defends the view that utilitarianism is best understood not as a replacement of commonsense morality for common people, but as the instrument of an exceptional few who may for utilitarian reasons not publicize their use of it.Less
This chapter traces the emergence of a theoretical-juridical model of moral theory in the work of English utilitarian philosopher Henry Sidgwick's masterwork, The Methods of Ethics. Through a series of theoretical exclusions and distinctions among morality and ethics, Sidgwick constructs the idea of a pure core of moral knowledge that can be captured by a compact moral system that is formally and practically superior to the supposed diversity of methods in commonsense morality. Sidgwick exhibits unusual self-consciousness in asking whom a scientific ethics is intended to serve, and with unusual candor defends the view that utilitarianism is best understood not as a replacement of commonsense morality for common people, but as the instrument of an exceptional few who may for utilitarian reasons not publicize their use of it.
Peter Müller
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198570769
- eISBN:
- 9780191718809
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198570769.003.0008
- Subject:
- Physics, Crystallography
Like every physical method, crystallography is affected by errors. However, there are two kinds of errors: unavoidable errors such as artefacts and avoidable errors. A good crystallographer knows how ...
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Like every physical method, crystallography is affected by errors. However, there are two kinds of errors: unavoidable errors such as artefacts and avoidable errors. A good crystallographer knows how to manage avoidable errors, how to live with unavoidable errors and, most importantly, how to distinguish between the one from the other. This chapter is more about scientific work ethics than about structure refinement. Nothing can be done to overcome an artefact, but the words ‘this is an artefact’ should never be used as an excuse for sloppy workmanship or to explain the seemingly inexplicable. Examples for artefacts are shortened bond lengths due to libration or high electron density between the nuclei, inaccurately determined hydrogen positions, spurious features in the electron density map on special positions, and close to heavy atoms. One example structure is given that shows an interesting feature in the different Fourier synthesis.Less
Like every physical method, crystallography is affected by errors. However, there are two kinds of errors: unavoidable errors such as artefacts and avoidable errors. A good crystallographer knows how to manage avoidable errors, how to live with unavoidable errors and, most importantly, how to distinguish between the one from the other. This chapter is more about scientific work ethics than about structure refinement. Nothing can be done to overcome an artefact, but the words ‘this is an artefact’ should never be used as an excuse for sloppy workmanship or to explain the seemingly inexplicable. Examples for artefacts are shortened bond lengths due to libration or high electron density between the nuclei, inaccurately determined hydrogen positions, spurious features in the electron density map on special positions, and close to heavy atoms. One example structure is given that shows an interesting feature in the different Fourier synthesis.
Cathy Gere
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226432229
- eISBN:
- 9780226432533
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226432533.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter explores the politics and ethics of the archiving of human genetic material for the purpose of evolutionary analysis. The science of human evolution has its roots in nineteenth-century ...
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This chapter explores the politics and ethics of the archiving of human genetic material for the purpose of evolutionary analysis. The science of human evolution has its roots in nineteenth-century taxonomies of race. The chapter investigates how the legacy of racial science was subverted, challenged, replicated, and transformed in human genetic archiving practices since WWII. In the immediate postwar period the investigation of human evolution was led by a network of geneticists who believed that good science was the best antidote to racism. At the same time as they repudiated crude definitions of race, they were collecting and storing the blood of indigenous people whom they defined as racially and genetically pure and therefore useful for reconstructing the story of the human journey out of Africa. Starting in the 1970s, the assumption that good science was all that was needed to combat racial prejudice came under increasing pressure. By the first decades of the twenty-first century a number of legal and political victories against the collection and analysis of indigenous genomes had forced the scientists to rethink the way that they collected, stored and used genetic material in the human archive.Less
This chapter explores the politics and ethics of the archiving of human genetic material for the purpose of evolutionary analysis. The science of human evolution has its roots in nineteenth-century taxonomies of race. The chapter investigates how the legacy of racial science was subverted, challenged, replicated, and transformed in human genetic archiving practices since WWII. In the immediate postwar period the investigation of human evolution was led by a network of geneticists who believed that good science was the best antidote to racism. At the same time as they repudiated crude definitions of race, they were collecting and storing the blood of indigenous people whom they defined as racially and genetically pure and therefore useful for reconstructing the story of the human journey out of Africa. Starting in the 1970s, the assumption that good science was all that was needed to combat racial prejudice came under increasing pressure. By the first decades of the twenty-first century a number of legal and political victories against the collection and analysis of indigenous genomes had forced the scientists to rethink the way that they collected, stored and used genetic material in the human archive.
Lynn C. Klotz and Edward J. Sylvester
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226444055
- eISBN:
- 9780226444079
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226444079.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Biotechnology
In the years since the 9/11 attacks—and the subsequent lethal anthrax letters—the United States has spent billions of dollars on measures to defend the population against the threat of biological ...
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In the years since the 9/11 attacks—and the subsequent lethal anthrax letters—the United States has spent billions of dollars on measures to defend the population against the threat of biological weapons. But as this book argues, all that money and effort hasn't made us any safer—in fact, it has made us more vulnerable. The book reveals the mistakes made to this point and lays out the necessary steps to set us on the path toward true biosecurity. The fundamental problem with the current approach, according to the book, is the danger caused by the sheer size and secrecy of our biodefense effort. Thousands of scientists spread throughout hundreds of locations are now working with lethal bioweapons agents—but their inability to make their work public causes suspicion among our enemies and allies alike, even as the enormous number of laboratories greatly multiplies the inherent risk of deadly accidents or theft. Meanwhile, vital public health needs go unmet because of this new biodefense focus. True biosecurity, the chapters argue, will require a multipronged effort based in an understanding of the complexity of the issue, guided by scientific ethics, and watched over by a vigilant citizenry attentive to the difference between fear mongering and true analysis of risk.Less
In the years since the 9/11 attacks—and the subsequent lethal anthrax letters—the United States has spent billions of dollars on measures to defend the population against the threat of biological weapons. But as this book argues, all that money and effort hasn't made us any safer—in fact, it has made us more vulnerable. The book reveals the mistakes made to this point and lays out the necessary steps to set us on the path toward true biosecurity. The fundamental problem with the current approach, according to the book, is the danger caused by the sheer size and secrecy of our biodefense effort. Thousands of scientists spread throughout hundreds of locations are now working with lethal bioweapons agents—but their inability to make their work public causes suspicion among our enemies and allies alike, even as the enormous number of laboratories greatly multiplies the inherent risk of deadly accidents or theft. Meanwhile, vital public health needs go unmet because of this new biodefense focus. True biosecurity, the chapters argue, will require a multipronged effort based in an understanding of the complexity of the issue, guided by scientific ethics, and watched over by a vigilant citizenry attentive to the difference between fear mongering and true analysis of risk.
Troy Shinbrot
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198812586
- eISBN:
- 9780191850721
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198812586.003.0006
- Subject:
- Physics, Soft Matter / Biological Physics, Condensed Matter Physics / Materials
Novel flows between rotating cylinders, of materials settling in tubes, and in roller bottles are described. Low speed flow around a sphere is derived, and paradoxical settling behaviors are ...
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Novel flows between rotating cylinders, of materials settling in tubes, and in roller bottles are described. Low speed flow around a sphere is derived, and paradoxical settling behaviors are mentioned, including the effects of red blood cells. Stokes drift and Magnus force on falling bodies near boundaries. A first example from scientific ethics is raised. The streamfunction and biharmonic equation are derived and applied to flow past a sphere.Less
Novel flows between rotating cylinders, of materials settling in tubes, and in roller bottles are described. Low speed flow around a sphere is derived, and paradoxical settling behaviors are mentioned, including the effects of red blood cells. Stokes drift and Magnus force on falling bodies near boundaries. A first example from scientific ethics is raised. The streamfunction and biharmonic equation are derived and applied to flow past a sphere.
