Hi Sirous

Universities must include ethics and professional ethics in their curricular programs. However, there are elements that should be part of the design of the chair, however I would recommend that the classroom teacher stress the importance of the responsibility of individual action, and the value of human dignity that is not a commodity that can be purchased or sell. On the other hand, we must underline the need to be transparent in our public functions and exemplary in our private behavior.

I do not know about, but it should be important in the curricula. Certain persons could be dedicated to such affairs.

Hi Mariano,

Thank you for you answer.

The attached paper discusses this issue. I believe they are making valid points.

Yes Dr., They are part of our curriculum in all of our institutions..

Dear Gopikrishna,

Thank you for your answer.

Do you know what is being taught and how. Is there a syllabus for it?

As a part of Ph.D. course work, we study about ethics in research.

Unit 5 – Application of Results and Ethics

Environmental Impacts - Ethical Issues – Ethical Committees – Commercialization – copy right – royalty – Intellectual Property rights and patent law – Track Related aspects of intellectual property Rights – Reproduction of published material – Plagiarism – Citation and Acknowledgement – Reproducibility and accountability.

Dear Rohith,

Than you for your answer. Two question for you:

1- is there any reference for the material covered in your course

2- Is ethics is also covered in undergraduate course?

In Pakistan, I do not think so.

Hi Ijaz,

Thank you for your answer. This is not usual. In most universities spend a few hours to tell their PhD student the trouble of plagiarism. The purpose is to cover themselves for its undesirable consequences.

Dear Prof. Sirous Yasseri ,

The complete syllabus of our Ph.D. coursework is attached.

Is ethics is also covered in undergraduate course?

Ans. is YES.

Here is a chapter in the syllabus of "Methodology of Science", a paper for B.Sc Electronics students.

Module IV (16 Hours)

Basic Concepts in the Philosophy of Science- Some Fundamental Questions- Scientific Reasoning, Scientific Explanation, The Components of Science, Realism and Anti Realism, Reductionism and Unity of Science, Some issues in the Philosophy of Science- Scientific Change and Scientific Revolutions, Paradigms and Research Programmes, Research Traditions model, Technologism, Science and Values, Science and Religion, Science and Society.

Text Book: 1. An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science, R V G Menon, Pearson India (Module I-IV)

2. The Third Element: A Brief History of Electronics, Alfred Corbin, Author House Publications (Module V)

Thanks,

Rohith

Dear Rohith,

Thank you for your detail answer. The syllabus document is particularly useful .

No, such topics were not covered when I was a student.

Hi Miss Gu,

I suspect that your university is in the majority. It is high time that universities address this most important issue.

Absolutely, Dr. Yasseri.

And I believe higher education is a part of society. Ethical standards addressed in educational institutions will always be confirmed or challenged by overall social context. If society insists an insane moral framework, worse, if society does everything evil to promote so-called good, then just talking about ethics at academic level is like giving a cancer patient a placebo. What an educational institution could do is, of course, still giving out the placebo anyway by sufficiently emphasizing 'you should never do this' and explaining why and tolerating debates. Students like me would follow reasonable instructions.

Sirous, yes, absolutely. We have a course on Business Ethics for second year students that encourages them to think both theoretically and practically. One of the things we have tried, in order to help students engage, is use films to highlight ethical discussions (for example, The Dark Knight). This has really helped to capture their imagination and to spur interesting conversations.

The impact of this course is clear - when it comes to dissertation topics, many students are keen to pick on ethical issues, especially in relation to advertising and marketing.

Dear Will,

What you have posted is what I wanted to hear. I think the course you mentioned is in minority. I hope the rest would follow your lead.

Students are adults, not instructed how to behave. While professional ethics are suitable for teaching, personal or religious ones are not.

Hi Stanley,

It appears I was not clear in my question. When I ask question about discussing ethical issue at degree level, I meant professional ethics not more.

Hi Sirous

Universities must include ethics and professional ethics in their curricular programs. However, there are elements that should be part of the design of the chair, however I would recommend that the classroom teacher stress the importance of the responsibility of individual action, and the value of human dignity that is not a commodity that can be purchased or sell. On the other hand, we must underline the need to be transparent in our public functions and exemplary in our private behavior.

Dear Jose,

Than you for your contribution to this discussion.

@ Jose Luis Da Silva I am with you on the point of the value of human dignity. It would be even better for an individual to be in a healthy conversation with something collective and to participate in the shaping of improved consensus, including a consensus on human dignity. Too bad sometimes this is quite difficult to be realized. I mean the healthy conversation part.

Dear Xinyuan,

Thank you for your contribution. Ethics concern doing no harm to people including not stealing, short changing, not abusing and so on and so forth.

Dear Dr. Yasseri,

do you think there is some kind of hierarchy in ethics? And if there is, is it really possible for us to mark the boundaries? Les Misérables is worldwide famous perhaps because it has caught something critical in ethics. And in one of the most important scriptures in the world, the Bible, 'Thou shalt not steal' and 'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor' are both given as the most fundamental principles, which means 'do not tell lies to frame people' is an as-major-as-stealing evil. I actually think ethics is something to tackle those moral problems such as what drives people to treat some other people as inferior or even non-human than to become a tool for hypocritical rogues talking about 'merits and virtues' to bring disasters.

Hi Xinyuan

Totally agree with you. Good point