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Should physics students take a course in ethics?—Physicists respond

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Abstract

A survey was conducted of a subset of the physics community in order to gain insight into attitudes towards integrating ethics into the physics curriculum. The results indicated significant support among some groups for such an integration yet also revealed significant barriers to this process. Respondents were also asked to suggest topics which should be covered under the heading of ethical issues in physics. The great variety of results indicates both that there are many issues worth investigating and that many in the physics community have given a great deal of thought to these issues.

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Notes and References

  1. As of September 4, 1998, a syllabus for this course is available from Linda Sweeting’s home page, Chemistry Department, Towson State University: http://www.towson.edu/~sweeting.

  2. Gilmer, Penny (1995). “Teaching Science at the University Level: What About Ethics?” Science and Engineering Ethics 1 (2) 173–180.

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  3. See, for instance, Bebeau, Muriel J. (1993) “Designing an Outcome-Based Ethics Curriculum for Professional Education: Strategies and Evidence of Effectiveness”, Journal of Moral Education 22: 313–326.

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  4. Ethical Issues In Physics: Workshop Proceedings; July 17–18, 1993; Eastern Michigan University. (1994). Marshall Thomsen, editor. Ethical Issues In Physics: Workshop II Proceedings; July 19–20, 1996; Eastern Michigan University (1997), Marshall Thomsen and Bonnic Wylo, editors. Copies of these proceedings are available from the authors and through the web site of the Eastern Michigan University Physics and Astronomy Department, http://www.physics.emich.edu/mthomsen/index.htm (as of September 4, 1998).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Eastern Michigan University, 48197, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA

    Marshall Thomsen

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  1. Marshall Thomsen
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Thomsen, M. Should physics students take a course in ethics?—Physicists respond. SCI ENG ETHICS 4, 473–486 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-998-0040-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-998-0040-z

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