Aristoteles

On January 18th, Pam Belluck, published an article in the New York Times informing the world on a trend practiced by scientists. In the article “Test Subjects Who Call the Scientist Mom or Dad”, PamBelluck explains how some scientists today use their children as their subjects for experiments. About a week ago, information about the article was published by the Institute of Global Ethics whichled to my contemplation on this recent event. The original article provides economic and timely advantages, but it is challenged by ethicists who question “the effect on the child, on the relationshipwith the parent, and on the objectivity of the researcher or the data.” In The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle focuses on expressing the importance of aiming to some good, and that this goodness isachieved when humans use reason in accordance with virtue. Are the scientists fulfilling this role when it comes to using their offspring as a tool in an experiment? It is to my belief that scientistsare disrupting the true path towards practicing virtue; furthermore, they lack the intentions to foster the environment necessary for their young’s upbringing and at the same time they are using theirchildren as a means to something else.
It is important to recognize the ambiguity behind such judgment because such acts may prove to be wrong in some circumstances while they prove to beinherently benign in others where harm seems to be undetectable. This being said, I shall interpret the justice behind these acts by using Aristotle’s ethical theory in order to formulate a fair judgment.According to Aristotle, “intellectual excellence owes its birth to instruction and so requires time and experience”. Aristotle’s definition relies mainly on the belief that virtue is acquired troughtraining and this training is influenced by upbringing and social environment; for this reason, parents play a big role on the training of their offspring when they are brought to life. The scientists,...