Premium
ESSAY: Finding the ethical standard of medical science in the age of the sciences
Author(s) -
Needham Charles W.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of evaluation in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.737
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2753
pISSN - 1356-1294
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2753.1999.00166.x
Subject(s) - socrates , nothing , ignorance , socratic method , soul , epistemology , philosophy , conversation , philosophy of science , psychology , linguistics
Science has nothing to do with ethics. Science is blind to good and evil. Ethics is a division of philosophy, not science. Socrates was the father of ethics, not science. The science of his day taught him little about human nature. Searching his soul enlightened. It is therefore odd to find certain modern scientists employing the Socratic method. They ask probing questions. Their questions begin a conversation, as though they know nothing. They do know there are serious limits to knowledge. Like Socrates they may admit their ignorance. They define terms. Then they differentiate between real knowledge and mere opinion. They argue, in order to demolish false opinion. Truth is what is left when the rest has been destroyed by compelling logic.