Concept of Ethical Responsibility in Scientific and Technological Activities

Applying the viewpoint of Vietnam Law on Science and Technology (2013)

[122] Regarding scientific and technological activities, in section 2.2, the thesis concluded that scientific and technological activities focus on scientific research activities and application of technology to life and production.

It can be affirmed that freedom in scientific and technological activities is the ability of subjects operating in the field of science and technology to understand the legal boundaries and ethical boundaries so that those subjects can act with the goal of serving humanity, for the common development of all humanity. Thus, freedom in scientific and technological activities is not simply a spiritual state - the state of freedom of scientists in scientific research and application, but more than that, it is the process in which scientists and researchers find the correct laws of motion and development of things and phenomena, from which they propose solutions (inventions) to apply in practice. That is, the scientific discoveries and inventions of scientists applied in practice and their correctness verified by practice is the true freedom of scientific and technological activities.

If we have affirmed above that freedom is never an absolute value, then freedom in scientific and technological activities also has limits, these limits are determined by many factors.

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In society, freedom in scientific and technological activities is expressed in social regulations that allow and create conditions for scientists to freely research and freely apply scientific research results to any extent and within any scope.

2.2.3. Concept of ethical responsibility in scientific and technological activities

Regarding ethical responsibility in scientific and technological activities, as studied in section 2.1.2 of the Thesis. Ethical responsibility is affirmed as

The truest form of responsibility. It is the attitude and behavior of the subject towards a certain problem in society and especially towards the conscience of that subject. It is the anxiety, tension, and torment of the person “bearing responsibility”, because they are concerned about the consequences they cause to themselves and to society.

This attitude is expressed in the implementation of moral obligations, that is, compliance with social norms - principles recognized by society, regulating human behavior, thanks to which they voluntarily adjust their behavior to be consistent with human interests and happiness and with social progress in relationships between people and between individuals and society.

Thus, it can be understood that ethical responsibility in scientific and technological activities is the attitude, behavior, and awareness of the subjects operating in this field. It is the ethical responsibility of scientists in the process of their scientific research. It is the ethical responsibility of subjects in applying scientific research results into practical life . The lack of responsibility is most clearly shown in the behavior of individuals and organizations using outdated scientific and technological products that are no longer suitable for human living standards to maintain and develop production for their own benefit, causing consequences for society. After the responsibility of individuals and organizations using science and technology, it is necessary to mention the responsibility of the state in managing scientific and technological activities.

Structure of ethical responsibility in scientific and technological activities:

First, the ethical responsibility of scientists in scientific research. It is not only the attitude and awareness but also the behavior of scientists in the face of discoveries, explorations, and findings... and the consequences of their research results, placed in relation to all life and the development of human society. Thus, ethical responsibility can always be

is present in every step of the scientific research process. This responsibility is even present in the results that result from applying the above research to real life.

Second, the ethical responsibility of organizations and individuals in applying technology to production and life. This responsibility requires organizations and individuals when using technology to ensure that it does not affect the natural environment and the existence of humans themselves. The above requirement requires those organizations and individuals to prioritize investing in new technologies, new equipment, environmentally friendly products, economical use of raw materials and energy, searching for new materials in production, to limit waste to the environment... And most importantly, the technology used must ensure that it does not harm the existence of humans.

2.3. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ETHICS AND SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

When studying the issue of freedom and ethical responsibility in scientific and technological activities, first of all, we need to answer the question: How are ethics and science and technology related? Because this is the basis for studying ethical issues in scientific and technological activities, including the issue of freedom and responsibility.

As we have seen, the phenomenon of technology has attracted the deep interest of philosophers. And this is not accidental: the impact of technology on humans is causing the deepest concerns. But can humans deny themselves in technology? Is it possible that humans cannot overcome the demonic power of technology? It is because of these problems that the philosophy of technology has developed an approach that unites the topic of technology with the system of ethical problems. The idea here is obvious: in the face of the dangers that threaten us, humans cannot relax their moral supervision of technical activity. We

No contradiction is seen in the ethical interpretations of technical operations.

But it is also important to note that, after taking an ethical view of technology, philosophers find themselves in a difficult situation. At first glance, it is not clear how a “concrete slab” can be evaluated ethically. Therefore, the task here is to clarify the necessity of an ethical component in human technical activity. To address this issue, we turn to the reflections of some prominent philosophers who have presented interesting approaches to the ethical problem of technology. Should technology and ethics be an inseparable pair?

In our opinion, the symbolic conception of technology has certain advantages in explaining the essence of technology. In accordance with the views of famous representatives of symbolism (such as the former Soviet Russian philosophers A. Beluy and A. Losev), we understand a symbol as a complex sign of rational content, as well as of image-ideological content [see 1, pp. 36-74]. Technology is the symbolic existence of man. This means that technical objects are interpreted on the basis of values. This is actually being done and is actually possible.

Man is “present” in technology through his values. Since these values are not the same, technology appears to man as a double-sided thing. Man brings ethical diversity to technology, because man himself is diverse, even in his double-sidedness. The structure “man + technology” is never on the other side of good and evil. Heidegger does not explain the nature of human technical activity, it is determined by man’s value orientation. Heidegger does not trust the value institution which seems incapable of expressing the true nature.

of man. The so-called ecological values do not allow man to exploit nature arbitrarily.

Thus, special attention must be paid to the value aspects of technology. For this purpose, it is possible to analyze in detail the various technical sciences - from electronics to aerospace - by precisely isolating certain values and the judgments associated with them. It is worth noting that a group of well-known German technologists has developed guidelines for the evaluation of technology in terms of value [see 169, pp. 334-363], and we can make use of the results of their research.

Seven values are proposed to evaluate technical artifacts as fundamental values: functional performance, safety, economic profitability, contribution to social welfare, protection of human health, ecological quality, and promotion of individual and social development. It is easy to see that only two values are purely technical: functional performance and safety. The two values - economic profitability and contribution to social welfare - need to be attributed to the economic sphere. As a value, health is related to the medical sphere. Ecological quality is the subject of interest in ecology. The development of individuals and society as values is discussed in the system of social sciences and humanities. Thus, the technical interpretation in terms of values is subordinate to the values of technical sciences, economics, medicine, ecology, social sciences and humanities. This shows what values the interpretation of the technical product is based on.

In their movement and development, the forms of social consciousness reflecting different areas of social life always have mutual influence. This influence makes each form of consciousness relatively independent from social existence. This is a matter of law. Regarding this, F. Engels wrote: “The development of politics, law, philosophy, religion, literature, art, etc. are all based on economic development. But they all also influence each other and influence the economic basis.

"economic" [27, p.271]. This requires that we cannot simply explain the emergence, movement and development of one form of social consciousness from another. However, we must not simplify the relationships between forms of social consciousness from a single cause.

- economic reasons.

According to Marxist philosophy, there is an inseparable relationship between science, engineering and technology and ethics. In that relationship, science, engineering and technology, together with their achievements, are always the basis and foundation for the formation and development of true, genuine ethical values of human beings.

The relationship between ethics and science is one of the important (social and philosophical) issues of human life. The more developed society is, the more great achievements science has, the more humanity needs ethics. The history of human development shows that any scientific knowledge has a direct or indirect influence on ethics, even natural science. The relationship between science and ethics is the relationship between truth and goodness. The ideal of science and the ideal of ethics are unified. In goodness (ethics) is contained truth (scientific truth) and in truth is contained goodness. True science cannot be hostile to progressive ethics. No true scientific invention does not bring joy and happiness to people.

Scientific knowledge also helps ethical subjects perceive, choose, and correctly evaluate ethical values. In turn, ethical consciousness, especially ethical ideals, plays an important role in creating one of the driving forces of scientific development and the search for truth.

However, scientific progress and moral progress do not always develop in parallel in a consensus direction. The level of scientific awareness of a particular era, of certain social groups and

of individuals may not coincide with their level of moral awareness. There are many cases where the level of scientific awareness is high but the level of moral awareness is low. This case will cause many losses to individuals and society.

In contrast to that Marxist view, there are still opinions that deny the relationship between science, technology and engineering with ethics. Some bourgeois philosophers such as B. Rasschen, Karnai... believe that science and engineering cannot solve the problems posed by ethical values. According to them, ethics and science cannot be reconciled. Or, as another opinion says, modern science is not capable of being a guide to ideals and forming ethics, because ethics always depends on the control of political structures. Denying the relationship between science, technology and ethics is, in essence, a denial of ethical principles, a failure to acknowledge the reflection of ethical standards in social life. That viewpoint can lead to two possibilities: one is to hinder and inhibit the formation of new moral values, and two is to blur the line between different purposes (beneficial or harmful to humans) of scientific inventions.

Analyzing the current state of Western society under the impact of the modern scientific and technological revolution, Jams Goldsmith, an American scholar

- raises the question of why mankind's greatest leap forward in material prosperity led to such a serious social breakdown? And why did the greatest era of scientific and technological achievements damage living conditions on Earth? According to him, science and technology are inherently powerful and useful, but their development raises other problems. Scientific development achievements bring useful results, but they can also bring harmful consequences, and in some cases, the level of harm is many times greater than the benefits. To overcome this situation, Jams Goldsmith believes that science must be developed in accordance with the

compatible with the moral development of society and cannot be separated from the social needs of ethnic communities. He wrote: “Science cannot be separated from morality... Science must serve society and be a part of society”. That like science, technology is “a useful tool. But if not controlled by more fundamental values, it can destroy social stability... swallow up our civilization”. From this, he came to the conclusion that science and technology must not only serve the real needs of society, but also “must be sensitive to moral, ethical and social demands” [86, pp.212-217].

Reality has proven that the development of the modern scientific and technological revolution, along with its gradual transformation into a direct productive force, not only changes the position of humans in the production process, but also fundamentally changes the social production itself. Therefore, science and technology also have a strong impact on the development of ethics, changing the scale of values and principles governing human and social activities.

The impact of science and technology on the development of ethics is two-sided. Based on knowledge, on scientific understanding (which is increasingly rich and diverse) and through technology, people as moral subjects, on the one hand, perceive, evaluate and choose ethical values correctly, on the other hand, determine appropriate measures and ways of behaving to regulate their behavior in social and ethical life. The general trend of the development of modern science, engineering and technology is to serve people better and more effectively. That is both the goal and the highest ethical standard of scientific and technological development.

However, this does not mean that the impact of science, engineering and technology on ethics takes place everywhere and at all times.

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