Standards of Scientific Conduct: Disciplinary Differences

Teaching of responsible conduct of research is largely predicated on the assumption that there are accepted standards of conduct that can be taught. However there is little evidence of consensus in the scientific community about such standards, at least for the practices of authorship, collaboration, and data management. To assess whether such differences in standards are based on disciplinary differences, a survey, described previously, addressing standards, practices, and perceptions about teaching and learning was distributed in November 2010 to US faculty from 50 graduate programs for the biomedical disciplines of microbiology, neuroscience, nursing, and psychology. Despite evidence of statistically significant differences across the four disciplines, actual differences were quite small. Stricter measures of effect size indicated practically significant disciplinary differences for fewer than 10 % of the questions. This suggests that the variation in individual standards of practice within each discipline is at least as great as variation due to differences among disciplines. Therefore, the need for discipline-specific training may not be as important as sometimes thought.     

Going Public: Science-and-Religion at a Crossroads

A survey of recent news events involving science and religion is conducted with an aim toward analyzing the current state of the science and religion dialogue. Recent events suggest that the dialogue has come to a crossroads, achieving an unprecedented level of popular attention. At the same time, this attention reveals what still needs to be done. More attention needs to be given to the nature of religion, to the history of religion and science, and to the increasing plurality of the dialogue.     

Marriage and the Public Good

In this article I seek to address some misunderstandings inarguments about same sex-marriage. I do this by evaluating severalviews on homosexuality and marriage. My central aim is to showthat a rejection of same-sex marriage does not depend upon theview that homosexual acts are immoral or disordered. Rather,one must examine sexual acts in light of public goods that areat stake. I also argue that the Christian understanding of marriageand sexuality offers more than a set of prohibitions againstcertain sexual acts. Rather, it offers reasonable principlesby which to evaluate the relationship between sexual acts andthe public good.     

Language as a Global Public Good

Language use is a public good. Those using a common language receive benefits that are non-excludable and non-rival. And as more people speak the same language, the greater these benefits are. Sometimes individuals make a conscious decision to learn a language other than their native language in order to receive these benefits, and thereby incur costs. This paper is an attempt to determine how we should share the costs among all beneficiaries. I argue against Van Parijs’s (Linguistic justice for Europe and for the world, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011a) proposal for this, and instead argue that an approach found in the work of Gauthier (Morals by agreement, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1986) is preferable. A general lesson to be drawn from this paper is that the correct principle for distributing the costs of (global) public goods will depend on whether we think the good in question is required by justice or not. Where Van Parijs went wrong, I claim, was in thinking that a cross-border common language is required by justice.     

Abandoning the Public Good: How Universities Have Helped Privatize Higher Education

In this article we assert that much of the public good associated with teaching and research in higher education is gradually being displaced. This privatization of higher education is reflected in increased licensing of research and in the fragmentation of the traditional general education core. Taxpayer de-funding and institutional substitution are economic consequences of public good displacement.     

The Public Dimension Of Scientific Controversies

Acceptance of three tenets of the doctrine of scientific objectivity, namely, the tenets of consensus, compartmentalization, and ahistorical truth, undermines scientists appreciation of the importance of scientific controversy and consideration of the policy and value implications of controversial scientific theories. This essay rejects these tenets and suggests scientists appreciate theoretical diversity, learn rational means for adjudicating value differences, and cultivate conversational as well as written forms of communication.     

Scientific Research and the Public Trust

This essay analyzes the concept of public trust in science and offers some guidance for ethicists, scientists, and policymakers who use this idea defend ethical rules or policies pertaining to the conduct of research. While the notion that public trusts science makes sense in the abstract, it may not be sufficiently focused to support the various rules and policies that authors have tried to derive from it, because the public is not a uniform body with a common set of interests. Well-focused arguments that use public trust to support rules or policies for the conduct of research should specify (a) which public is being referred to (e.g. the general public or a specific public, such as a particular community or group); (b) what this public expects from scientists; (c) how the rule or policy will ensure that these expectations are met; and (d) why is it important to meet these expectations.     

公共物品两难中相互依赖关系对合作行为的影响

本文关注初始关系建立过程中互动双方相互依赖关系对个体合作行为的影响,认为情境中表征个体间相互依赖关系的线索会对激活被试在情境中的社会动机并影响被试的信任信念,进而影响互动双方的合作行为。操作互动双方问基于互动制约的相互依赖和基于利益共同的相互依赖,模拟高相互依赖和低相互依赖关系情境。结果表明：①不同的相互依赖关系能够激活不同的社会动机和信任信念;②不同的相互依赖关系中,被试的合作行为有显著差异;③在特定的相互依赖关系中,被试的合作行为与其本身的信任倾向无显著相关;④特定相互依赖关系下被试的社会动机带有策略性,信任信念对被试合作行为的预测能力较强。     

Scientific Facts and Methods in Public Reason

Should scientific facts and methods have an epistemically privileged status in public reason? In Rawls’s public reason account he asserts what we will label the Scientific Standard Stricture: citizens engaged in public reason must be guided by non-controversial scientific methods, and public reason must be in line with non-controversial scientific conclusions. The Scientific Standard Stricture is meant to fulfill important tasks such as enabling the determinateness and publicity of the public reason framework. However, Rawls leaves us without elucidation with regard to when science is and is not ‘non-controversial’ and more importantly, we are left without a justification for a stricture which excludes certain controversial beliefs and methods of inquiry from the realm of political justification. In this article, we offer what we deem to be the most plausible interpretation of Rawls’s Scientific Standards Stricture. We then use Rawls’s general theoretical framework to examine various potential justifications for privileging these ‘non-controversial’ scientific methods and conclusions. We conclude that no viable justification is available to Rawls.     

崇尚科学提高全民科学素质

胡锦涛总书记提出的“八荣八耻”,把“以崇尚科学为荣,以愚昧无知为耻”放在第3位,可见其重要性。因为头两位“热爱祖国”、“服务人民”是每一个中国公民必备的基本道德,“危害祖国”、“背离人民”是犯罪行为。而“愚昧无知”在过去极左思潮的长期影响下,特别是在“知识愈多愈反动”的年代里,不仅不是耻辱,反而是光荣。改革开放以来,我们逐步树立起了科学技术是第一生产力、科学思想是第一精神力量的正确观念,逐步认识到了科学对社会主义现代化建设的关键性作用,愚昧无知导致落后、导致贫穷、甚至导致邪教滋生、危及社会稳定和国家安全。…     

Scientific Counterpublics: In Defense of the Environmental Scientist as Public Intellectual

Global warming and climate change pose a significant threat to the livelihoods of future generations. Although there is a consensus among qualified climate scientists who believe that scientific evidence supports anthropogenic climate change (ACC) theories, this has not translated into public understanding or trust in these theories. In this essay, I trace policy debates in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s concerning the link between CFC pollution and ozone depletion. Based on a rich tradition of counterpublic scholarship and empirical success of ozone scientists, I argue that a rhetorical defense of global warming science in the form of counterpublic intellectualism may help environmental advocates overcome public disbelief in ACC theories.

     

Psychological research online: report of Board of Scientific Affairs' Advisory Group on the Conduct of Research on the Internet

As the Internet has changed communication, commerce, and the distribution of information, so too it is changing psychological research. Psychologists can observe new or rare phenomena online and can do research on traditional psychological topics more efficiently, enabling them to expand the scale and scope of their research. Yet these opportunities entail risk both to research quality and to human subjects. Internet research is inherently no more risky than traditional observational, survey, or experimental methods. Yet the risks and safeguards against them will differ from those characterizing traditional research and will themselves change over time. This article describes some benefits and challenges of conducting psychological research via the Internet and offers recommendations to both researchers and institutional review boards for dealing with them. ((c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved)     

中国佛教团体与慈善公益事业研究评述

佛教在历史上是社会救助的重要力量之一。当代佛教团体对慈善公益事业更是不遗余力,取得了巨大成绩,佛教慈善研究因此备受关注。本文把学者相关成果梳理为佛教慈善思想,善书、功过格与慈善观念,寺院经济和古代佛教慈善,台湾佛教与社会福利,当代大陆宗教团体参与慈善事业等五个方面,并指出,基于跨学科的田野调查和综合分析,对佛教慈善组织以及宗教慈善的法律探讨乃是未来研究的一个重点。     

从数字趋吉避凶谈到『顺从民意』

据传媒披露,目前北京、广州交管部门都作出了汽车牌号中取消“4”的决定,引起了公众的不同反响。本刊《探索求真》栏目发表了两位作者对这一事件的看法。不管出台这样的“决定”是基于什么样的考虑,我们倒想提出一个问题: “应该倡导什么样的精神境界?”这种所谓“顺乎民意”的“决定”是否有“短视”?     

Effects of Soliciting Opinions on Contributions to a Public Good1

In a field study, subjects were mailed a request for a monetary contribution toward the maintenance of a public good. One half the subjects received only this request, while the other half received the request along with a short questionnaire that asked for subjects' opinions regarding how their contributions might be best put to use. It was predicted that subjects to whom questionnaires were sent, through enhanced perceptions of efficacy and ingroup identity, would contribute more money than subjects not given the opportunity to communicate their opinions The results, however, indicated that the manipulation had the reverse effect: subjects in the questionnaire condition contributed less money than subjects in the nequestionnaire condition. A post hoc explanation for the data based on the notion of “symbolic” helping actions is provided, and implications for solicitation programs and for research on social dilemmas are discussed.     

Going Home

Today marks two months since the city was in flames. What happened here is important to me partly because, “Los Angeles is my city.” I am a native son, born 52 years ago in the Queen of Angels Hospital. I carry in me both the pride and the inferiority that go with being from L.A.     

Going Tandem

SUMMARY

This article takes a humorous, anecdotal look at relationships through the extensive use of metaphor. The author compares relationships to tandem bicycle riding. He offers comparisons and similarities from his relationship experiences both on and off the bike. The article offers opportunities for the reader to interact and respond from their relationship experiences.