Research Ethics

Catalog description

The course will examine the scandals that launched the field of research ethics and consider the ethical principles that arose in reaction. We will be especially concerned with the nature and limits of informed consent, as the central principle of research ethics. We will ask: what makes consent valid? What kind of understanding is required for consent to count as 'informed'? How should we distinguish research and clinical care; what clinical responsibilities to researchers have, in designing and conducting studies? What does it take to justify research when consent is impossible; as in the case of children or incapacitated patients? When, if ever, is it acceptable to use deception in research? What else is required, beyond informed consent, to justify research? In particular, what sorts of social goals should research promote, and what social harms must it avoid?