The end doesn’t justify the means. “A kind of Faustian shadow may be discerned in—or imposed on—the fascinating career of Wernher von Braun: a man so possessed of a vision, of an intellectual hunger, that any accommodation may be justified in its pursuit.
—Washington Star editorial, 20 June 1977” Wernher von Braun was one of the most controversial figures ethically. He helped us reach our goal of space yet was a former Nazi and used slave labor to build his V-2 missile. 7,000 British citizens died as a result of these rockets, but producing the rockets 20,000 more died. The U.S., knowing of von Braun’s Nazi past, recruited him to come to their space program. Had von Braun not been blinded by his goal of rocketry and rather considered his moral obligations, he would have undoubtedly been considered a national hero in the U.S. rocket program.
Wernher von Braun joined the SS in November 1933. It’s difficult to be sure of the precise reason why, but it was believed that he entered in order to keep his career. Keeping his goal of space exploration a possibility was important to him than his moral and ethical values. Wernher von Braun’s V-2 rocket was produced by laborers mainly from the Mittelbrau-Dora camp. He was most likely not given a choice in the decision to use them, but because of the Nazis extremes had no other choice. Wernher von Braun may not have been fully aware of the horrors but there is evidence that he knew of the horrors of starvation and death going on inside. Allied troops were sent to Germany to search down the Nazi scientists and their rockets. The U.S. troops were competing against Soviet troops for the scientists to aid them in their future Cold War. Von Braun escaped westward to meet the advancing U.S. troops...
... middle of paper ...
...t. Reaching the moon before the Soviets doesn’t justify the killing of thousands of laborers at Mittelbrau-Dora.
Works Cited
Neufeld, M. J. (2007, November 6). Wernher von braun's legacy. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/von-braun.html
Wernher von braun. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php?id=29
Neufeld, M. J. (2002, February). The ss and concentration camp labor. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1433245?uid=2134&uid=2481280847&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=2481280837&uid=60&purchase-type=both&accessType=none&sid=21103997477367&showMyJstorPss=false&seq=3&showAccess=false
Crowley, I. F., & Trudeau, J. R. (2011, December 20).Wernher von braun an ethical analysis. Retrieved from http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-121811-161339/unrestricted/von_Braun_IQP_12_20_2011_bw_final.pdf
“Ethical Issues of the Milgram Experiment.” Associated Content. Yahoo, 8 November 2008. Web. 12 October 2011.
John F. Kennedy once said, "No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”. The main motive for this quote was to ensure that the United States wanted to beat out the Soviets in the space race. Ever since the Soviets tried to advance on the moon, the United States wanted to be the first successful nation to accomplish the first ever moon landing. At the time, the tension between the United States and the Soviets was very strong because the Cold War just ended and neither nation wanted to lose to each other in the space race. Just as the United States planned their mission to the moon, the Soviets were the very first nation to ever settle on space. The U.S. as well as President Kennedy were shocked to see the Soviets be the first nation to fly in space. The United States had to come up with a plan in order to beat out the soviets, by becoming the very first nation to ever land on the moon. Overall, it is clear that the United States hoaxed the moon landing in order to beat out the Soviet Union in the space race through observations, evidence from a Hollywood studio, and allowing NASA to pull off the Apollo mission.
Wernher von Braun. Idealist and visionary. Braun began his career in 1925 with the hopes and dreams of leading humanity to the stars. Do you know what he said when the first rocket hit London? He said that “the rocket performed perfectly, it just landed on the wrong planet.”
This is the day Albert Einstein signed the letter that prompted the U.S.’s exploration into nuclear weaponry. Frankly put, he messed up. That letter led to the laughter of civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. America is an experimental country - the first wholly democratic country – and it backfires sometimes. The Creed is warped to fit a definition of a moment and the wrong course of action is pursued. Einstein didn’t sign that latter with the intention of giving the world heartache and terror. He signed it to preserves the peace and it was hopelessly misconstrued. The only peace he can make with that decision is that it is one of those undervalued days in
(“USHMM”) People described Reinhard Heydrich as a mean cruel cold hearted person. He was really good at science he went to Reform Gymnasium because they where good in science. He Wanted to go in WWI but he was not...
It all started with the “Hungarian conspiracy” it had everyone convinced that the creation of a nuclear bomb possible, but that the German government was already doing research in this field of study and on such a weapon. To the rest of the world, the thought of Adolf Hitler might be the first to gain control of a weapon this destructiveness would be terrifying to the United States. Right, then they decided that the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt must be warned about the dangers and that the United States must begin its research department.As the planned gave way, Einstein was to write a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the possibilities and dangers of the atomic weapons, and later was taken to the president.Einsteins appointment was easy to get in te late summer of 1939. Hitler had just invaded Poland .and the war had just begun in Europe.After speaking with the President, he gathered his cabinet. and wanted to speak with his chief aide, after talking with him a small committee was set up called ...
The United Space endured a long, competitive, tumultuous, and primed-to-explode relationship with the Soviet Union since its inception. The Space Race was perhaps the greatest spectacle of scientific engineering in the first 5.755 millennia. The U.S. had to reclaim its superior status after the Soviets launched Sputnick I into orbit on October, 4, 1957, and launched Yuri Gagarin into space on April 12, 1961 as the first human in space. Kennedy knew that the American people wanted a victory in the space race, and realized that, being so far away, the United Space could achieve it. Then, on September 12, 1962, President Kennedy gave the “Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort”. This address is best known by this paragraph:
The Space Race is remarkably similar to that of the arms race because of the parallel between the creation of the atomic bomb and the goal of reaching the moon. The United States’ bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki effectively established its place as the technologically superior nation; however, major milestones in space achieved early by the Soviets damaged America’s reputation. In 1957, Soviet scientists shocked the world by successfully launching the Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, beyond the Kármán Line (the boundary of space). This amazing breakthrough “rattled American self-confidence. It cast doubts on America’s vaunted scientific superiority and raised some sobering military questions.” This blow to national pride along with the fear that the Soviets could potentially launch ICBMs from space led to “Rocket fever”. The sudden wave of nationalism and the desire to build a space program worthier to that of the Soviet Union led to the...
Martin, M.W. and Schinzinger, R. (2005) Ethics in Engineering. 4th ed. New York: McGraw Hill.
The Nazis practiced eugenics, or the science dealing with factors that influence the hereditary qualities of a race and with ways of improving these qualities, especially by modifying the fertility of different categories of people. They euthanized German citizens whose lives were “not worth living.” Euthanasia was propagandized to the German public via posters, movies, and public education. For example, students were required to solve mathematical equations that compared the costs of living between a healthy child and one that was disabled. The Nazis used the German public’s minds against them, making them believe that those who were inferior did not need to live. This meant that researchers could get consent very easily. The subjects were not informed. Their rights were circumvented with malicious intent. These people were brainwashed to the point that some were volunteering for “mercy killings.” “Ultimately, 200,000 German adults were euthanized or granted “mercy killings” (Rubenfeld 2). Had there been a powerful enough force to enforce it, informed consent could serve as a blockade to these atrocities. The infamy of Nazi researchers will serve as a lesson to why informed consent is
The dropping and the atomic bomb and the continued use of human subjects during scientific testing in the 20th century continues to be a controversial subject. It is because the actions carried out saved many lives and that those hurt were informed and volunteered that these methods were moral. It is because of the debate surrounding these actions that science has continued to evolve. From these earlier practices, more rigid experimental methods are enforced. These new regulations protect the patient and continue to ensure that those sacrificing their safety to aid others are not injured without fully understanding the risks involved. The modern world will continue to benefit from the actions taken by the United States during the 20th century.
At the time of the space race, the United States was in the midst of the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Even in the early days of ...
“men walk on the moon! Triumph for mankind!” There was no mention of the Soviets or a race that the Americans had won, but rather the paper focuses on how big of an achievement this was for mankind. Of course the main article talks about the United States, but the attention grabbing headline gave all the credit to mankind. Most of the headlines the next day read similar things. It is very apparent based on this fact alone that clearly this “race” that Kennedy started was very irrelevant to Americans. As stated earlier, time and time again Americans more concerned about this great achievement for
Imagine a man who saved millions and also killed millions; a man who young German students today accused as a “murderer.” Is this a good man doing evil or is this an evil man doing good? This man was known as Fritz Haber, the father of chemical warfare. Haber was like a “because I can” person. Haber wrote, "We only want one limit, the limit of our own ability,” his ego to become a patriotic German and doing all he could for his country. Doing all he could for the country, he invented a chemical gas to be used in the war called chlorine gas; many saw it as an inhumane and a wrong way to kill others, to Haber, it was a success in his creation and a win in the war. Soldiers described it to be a big cloud, covering 15 ft. tall and killing anything that got in its path; grasses turned to the color of metal, birds dropped from the sky, and with this chemical going into the trenches, French soldiers were basically drowning on land.
“The end justifies the means” is the famous quote of Machiavelli (Viroli, 1998) which puts the emphasis of morality on the finale results rather than the actions undertaken to achieve them. Is this claim true in the field of the natural sciences? Whether atomic bombings, as a mean used to end World War II, justifies the death of civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? What is moral limitation in the acquisition of knowledge in the natural sciences? How is art constrained by moral judgment?