Can The Search For Knowledge Ethical?

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Ethics is an incredibly complex area of knowledge. Each individual holds a unique perspective, influenced by their personal experiences and emotions. The view of ethics held by a society is, to a large extent, the most commonly held view among its citizens, sometimes with large influences from leaders. It is important to examine ethics because they are pivotal in many of the choices we make, and individuals and as a society. We need to try to understand what is right, and what is wrong. That is, we need to look at normative ethics, looking at whether or not beliefs are ethical. An important part of this study is to examine is knowledge should be pursued from an ethical standpoint. Can a piece of knowledge itself be unethical? If the piece …show more content…
I mean, it 's the search for knowledge, and more knowledge is better, right? How could the search for more knowledge be unethical? Who determines if it is or is not ethical? Is it the individual, or the society. What about the world stage? . We can again examine unit 731. Who decides if the actions that they take are ethical or unethical? This again goes back to the main issue within ethics; it 's complicated, and different for each individual. Each individual can decide if they find unit 731’s actions ethical or unethical, and they can react accordingly. There are, however, some short heuristics that can be used. If it harms humans in the process, it is generally found to be unethical. If it harms society, it is general found to be bad. The problem is that these do not hold true for all cases, and there are exceptions. What if the search for knowledge will harm some people in the process, but the knowledge gained will ultimately help many people? Is it ethical to harm a few people in order to help many? In general, we find that most people say no, even if this is not a response that seems particularly reasonable. Using reason, it would seem that the sacrifice of a few would we worth saving many. However, humans rely heavily on emotion, and do not always follow reason. They think as much with emotion as much as with reason, and their emotions do not allow them to let that sacrifice occur. An individual makes their own decisions

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