Ethical And Inhumane Experiments

One major underlying theme that many of our recent readings for this course share is that of ethical boundaries with regard to scientific research. At various times in history, unthinkable atrocities have been committed with scientific research being their justification. During the Second World War, Nazi forces and (and other 'Axis powers ') carried out some of the most unethical and inhumane experiments to date. At times the experiments being carried out on human beings were so barbaric that any discoveries made were met with disgust and disapproval from scientists around the globe. Even so, the use of minorities as guinea pigs to test the most extreme limits of the human body and spirit does provide scientists with some legitimate and useful data, despite it being obtained in an incredibly unethical way. Some even argue that ignoring this research because of the way in which it was obtained could prevent us from helping others in the future. With ethical issues like these, where can we 'draw the line ' between ethical and unethical behavior with regard to scientific research?

Thesis: Here we will examine three examples in which ethical lines have been crossed and use these to explore the …show more content…
The Nazis were the perpetrators of undoubtedly some of the most unethical and inhumane actions in all of history. David Bogod writes in his article The Nazi Hypothermia Experiments: Forbidden Data? that
"The Nazi ideology was predicated on the concept of racial supremacy At the top of the tree was the Aryan race; at the foot were the 'untermenschen ': blacks, gypsies, homosexuals, and Jews. In the obscene logic which emerged from this categorization, such 'sub-humans ' were legitimate targets for extermination and, before their death, experimentation." (Bogod,