Conduct, Misconduct and the Structure of Science

Abstract

In recent years the difficult question "what
\nconstitutes scientific misconduct?" has troubled
\nprominent ethicists and scientists and
\ntied many a blue-ribbon panel in knots. In
\nteaching an ethics class for graduate and undergraduate
\nstudents over the past few years,
\nwe have identified what seems to be a necessary
\nstarting point for this debate: the clearest
\npossible understanding of how science actually
\nworks. Without such an understanding, we believe,
\none can easily imagine formulating
\nplausible-sounding ethical principles that
\nwould be unworkable or even damaging to
\nthe scientific enterprise.