Point of the Nazi examples? -to show how the values embedded in the scientific frame of mind can be carried to extremes and taken too far. Our role as writers is to write with ethics, very few people are involved with making sure that science does not go too far. Science also justifies itself by saying that experiments are done for the sake of science. Science can be either seen as abiding by overall ethics or creating its own ethics.
- Whenever technical objectivity is emphasized, sometimes ethics are then compromised.
- it is therefore that, technical documents are not as ethically neutral as you might think.
- The Nazi "scientific" research on prizoners is in quotations b/c
1st it indicates the claim by the researchers that the research was scientific in nature.
2nd it indicates that nearly all the research is now understood of being w/o genuine scientific puropose or valitidity. Its aim was actually reacial abuse and mass killing (not the pursuit of science) - the Nazi "medical" research and human extermination technology was not really science for the sake of science, it was actually science subordinated to another value system (racial supremacy)
- In determining whether a document is ethical, you must consider the content, but also how and from where the information was obtained!
ORGANIZATION, DISSEMINATION, AND USE OF INFORMATION
reviews of : -Nazi racism, its relation to science and medicine, & its trial for crimes against humanity, and the -recent ethic debates about questionable scientific information from this regime.
purpose: to show that ethical considerations apply not only to dcoument itself or its content but also to how the informational content was obtained and how it likely will be used.
The Nazi concentration camps were originally used to remove socially undesirable people from the general population. Those in the concentration camps were also used as research subjects, without their consent. Most of the research was done to further their war effort by learning about human extremes.
Medical Specimens
- some tissue samples that have been used in German medical schools originally were from Nazi concentration camp victims. Of course, no informed consent was used. Many Isrealis were outraged and protested to the German government. The means of how they were obtained outweighs the benefits of their use.
Research Information
- Some information obtained by Nazi research may be benefical today; however, critics say that it should not be used at all. In the end some research was not used because it was not done with scientific methods. Barondress explained how the society allowed this to happen. First, the goal of medicine was reversed. Physicians also thought that they were doing good by removing the bad genes from the world, making it a better place. In addition, many physicians were strong Nazi proponents. People were also allowed to be killed because valueable resources were limited because of the war. Medical terminalogy also helped doctors to accept their role and also make society believe it too.
Controversy in the Present
- Due to the unethical “scientific” or pseudoresearch of the Nazi’s, scientific research in Europe and America is scrutinized much more closely by the government and objective panels.
- Recently, the Israelis have protested that some universities in Germany are using human organs from the Nazi prison camps for research. They protest because these people did not have any informed consent or choice about this, not to mention there was no reason for their execution, and therefore it is unethical to use them.
- The New England Journal of Medicine took a strong stance against using the hypothermia research of the Nazis even though there could be possible medical implications because the research was unscientific, gathered by unsound methods.
- In Journal of American Medical Association Jeremiah Barondess stated that the there was a huge reversal that happened in the Nazi regime, from medicine as healing to medicine as killing. It became a means to justify and carry out mass genocide rather than aid in helping sustain life.
Values in Nazi Medical Science
- Physicians held a lot of power in the Nazi regime. Reasons for this: the unemployment of medical school graduates in bad economy and the need for the regime to “legitimize” its foul practices.
- Facts should be seen as things that can be severely altered by social circumstances and are not completely certain.
- Masked language become prominent:
- Physicians were seen as killing with reason when the people were seen as “already dead” or in other words “not worthy of life”
- “Euthanasia” is known as mercy killing but is suppose to be by the knowing consent of the person. The Nazi’s termed their killing as “Euthanasia” but their people had no consent, no choice.
- “Special treatment” is usually very strong treatment used in extreme cases with the purpose of still helping the person. The Nazi’s used this for mass killing.
Nazi Antiscience
- Some say that the “science” of the Nazi’s was indeed science and shows how its objectivity is inhumane and impersonal and the enemy of human values.
- Others argue that what the Nazi’s were doing was not at all science, but the exact opposite. They opposed traditional science and its objectivity, its formal logic, its emotional neutrality in order to bring about their desired end result.
oNazi Antiscience
People have also stated that science is to blame for its inhumaneness and unethicalness. For example, science allowing doctors to see their patients as objects. Nazi science also completely disagrees with what we would consider traditional human values. Also, many experiments were not done under traditional settings allowing many unethical events to take place. Many scientists in Germany were tired of the emperical ways of doing things. In the end, Nazi science stressed moral, aesthetic and political values over reductivism and objectivism, allowing there to be an unequality between people. Science's main duty is to make strong, healthy, dominant people.
Research in the United States
- There are strict standards that not only must the information of research be accurate but the means by which it was obtained must meet specific guidelines. If not, the evidence is inadmissible, no matter how “beneficial” it could be to society.
- An example if the Tuskegee syphilis experiment in the 1920s where only African American patients were treated with placebos and effective drugs.
- Another instance is the research of the effects of radiation on humans by the utilization of unknowing humans.
- Another point of controversy is the utilization of animals in research.
Research in the United States
Should Nazi research be used or is it admissable? Americans should also realize that the US ran similar experiements, for example the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. the problem is with the methods of the experiment, not with the results. The informaiton gained can be hampered by they way it was obtained. Kant says that ethics applies to everyone with concious thought, or those with reasoning.
Nazi Technical Memorandum
- Katz believes that expediency and efficientcy have dominated our society and thus changed it. In fact, technology could be said to be a determinant of society, for example the car. Nazi memo example. Nouns are not used and it is not focused on people. Subject line avoids stating the real purpose of the memo. In addition, the memo has excellent technical writing. Are writers required to examine ethics when writing? YES!! we are!! In fact, technical values were the main importance in Germany. These values made it difficult to justify the logic.Even graphics were used in their technical writing to identify Jews. Science was abanded to prove their points These graphics helped to distance the user from the subject and the science behind it.There was also pressure from the government to legitimize beliefs by showing that science agreed
How would the different schools of ethicial thought perceive the Nazis
- Aristotle would ethically disapprove the Nazis because everything that Aristotle believes that ethics is was completely absent. Also Aristotle believes in expediency, and technical excellence which can lead to problems
- Kant would ethically condemn Nazis because not everyone was treated equally
- Utilitarianism ad Feminist and Ethics of Care would have condemned the Nazis and would favor information over other.
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