Research is an investigative process that has allowed humanity to increase its knowledge about specific facts, certain situations, in short, it has allowed it to specify aspects of reality.
Now, it must be borne in mind that the term reality should not be limited in its understanding to an exclusive context, but rather should be assumed throughout its definition. Thus, thanks to the breadth of thought and the search for solutions, humanity has reached great developments in astronomy, physics, biology, medicine, genetics, computing, economics, and other sciences and disciplines.
It is noteworthy that this investigative process has been occurring since ancient times in all cultures or social organizations that have existed on the face of the planet.
In this sense, the first civilizations faced the fundamental dilemmas of existence and the search for a solution to those needs (food, clothing, habitat, among others) with investigative processes that, although they could not be defined as research in the strict sense of the term, to a certain extent these processes allowed obtaining new knowledge about reality.
It has been in this process of searching for knowledge and benefits (satisfaction of needs), over time, that humanity has shaped its social, political, economic, cultural and ethical condition and in turn has enhanced its creative and destructive capacity.
In this regard, what is relevant is that for humanity the needs and perceptions about reality have been taking on more complex nuances depending on the levels of abstraction that it has reached, that is, as concepts and definitions have been structured humanity has approached reality in a certain way. This approach has responded not only to the intention of describing, analyzing and interpreting phenomena and situations, but in turn has responded to specific purposes subject to a particular assessment of that reality.
In this sense, it is clear to affirm that the levels of abstraction reached by humanity have not only represented greater degrees of complexity and systematization in knowledge, but have in turn been influenced by an orientation, a value burden and a particular ethic of its own. of cultures and societies. Likewise, it is important to highlight that these evaluative and ethical aspects of cultures have also been developing along with the investigative processes.
In other times -and even nowadays- the ethical and evaluative sense of the investigative processes of science, was particularly minimized for the sake of knowledge and the solution to the questions that were manifested every day in reality. The scientific desire and extremism to tackle and solve problems resulted in a lack of responsibility regarding the effects and results obtained in the investigative processes. This oversight made it possible for science to put itself at the service of absolutist and private interests, which in a way ended up degenerating the foundations of science and academia.
Likewise, irresponsible research has allowed the idea of science to emerge as a weapon of destruction of life and humanity. Scientific extremism motivated by particular ethical and evaluative positions resulted in harmful aberrations such as the experiments of the doctor Joseph Menguele on human beings, during the Second World War; or the experiments of the North American Government with soldiers and mentally retarded after the first nuclear tests carried out in New Mexico. In these and many other duly documented cases, science has pursued knowledge and has sought solutions to specific problems that may well have resulted in social and other benefits, but one might ask whether the scientific value of a discovery could, at any moment,compensate the violation and vexation of the human condition and even the right to life?
It is for the above and for many other evaluative considerations of knowledge, that at present it is imperative to specify the ethical motivations and the cultural and social evaluations that are behind any investigative process. Nowadays science and academia cannot be considered from a merely altruistic position, it is important to take into account that in their actions there are political, economic and cultural implications, since scientists apart from leading research are also part of society, have a particular ethic and are subject to institutional pressures and positions, which generally move after specific interests.
The level of ethics touches science, academia and, above all, research very closely, because it is not enough to establish a normative fiction about how and what to investigate, with this the dilemma is not solved but on the contrary encourages the development of parallel research and research centers, or other national contexts with more permissive regulations are sought, for example: research on human cloning and research on genetic food management. All these aspects bring to the discussion a new reflection: what is the researcher's ethics?
In any case, the dilemma of ethics in the context of science, and particularly in research, is not resolved through the establishment of norms and codes, but through a broader ethical understanding of the future implications and effects of the results in all contexts and areas of human doing. In this sense, the ethical position of each science maker should combine a capacity for visualization and perception of the impact of new knowledge, a more responsible and respectful attitude towards humanity and its social values.
Finally, it must be considered that ethics as a discipline of being in its multiple dimensions and stages (in becoming, in relation, in situation, in communication) is not an ultimate and finished goal. Ethics is an indissoluble part of the life process of the human being and of humanity as a whole, that is to say, as societies advance in time consuming new knowledge and combining new ways of approaching reality, an assessment will always be implicit ethics of this knowledge, its purpose and how it was acquired. And if this ethical notion is based on respect and human understanding, the performance of science will always be in favor of humanity.
