Constraints Created by Ethical Judgements

Ethics provide us with a moral guide of making decisions, so we can explore every available option. We know lying or stealing yield harmful outcomes, so we avoid them. Contrarily, we embrace encouragement and respect because they produce beneficial outcomes. Since aligning our behaviour with our ethics benefits our lives as a whole, one may assume that aligning our approach to the arts and natural sciences with our ethics should also benefit our productions of knowledge in these areas. However, that is not the case. In this essay, I will be examining the extent to which ethical judgements constrain the way the art are created, and the extent to which ethical considerations limit natural science experimentation and research. In my counterclaims I will examine how ethics assist those creating art and those with scientific endeavours.

Firstly, ethical judgment involves reasoning. One uses this way of knowing to compare possible actions in a situation and judging which action is most ethical. For example, I can choose to bury my dead goldfish or eat it, but since it seems unethical to eat my dead pet, I would bury it instead. Secondly, what is considered as ethical judgements have changed dramatically over the years. For example, in the recent past United States had human experimentations operating directly under the supervision of the government (AHRP, 2014). It is only recently that people started to rebel against these actions and declaring them unethical. In the past, people were more driven by curiosity in the past. For this reason, scientific research thrived and artists were free to create their desired pieces, which led to the production of knowledge. However, as society advances and social norm is altered, people grow to val...

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...ryo. Years later, scientists discovered that using adult stem cells collected from human skin is almost exactly the same as embryonic stem cells. This created an ethical and effective solution to things like treating cancer, transplanting organs and even preparing beef in a lab.

In conclusion, ethical judgements do limit the methods available in the production of knowledge to an extent in both the natural sciences and arts. This can be seen when artists and scientists cannot create or experiment with certain materials, as declared by law. Human bias also act as a restriction because when artists' and scientists' endeavours are met with opposing force, it discourages them and their desire to produce knowledge through whatever they were going to do. However it is much better to see the limitations as an obstacle that can be overcome to produce knowledge regardless.