Ethical Issues in Biology The purpose of this research is t

The purpose of this research is to examine the issue of biology and ethics, with reference to the volume Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, edited by Sober. The plan of the research will be to set forth the context in which ethical issues may surface in the discipline of biology, and then to discuss the manner in which various commentators in Sober's volume treat such issues.

There appear to be four identifiable areas in which evolutionary biology and ethics intersect and potentially conflict: first, in respect to the ethical implications of biological research on human beings, second, in respect to the unanticipated ethical consequences of more or less purely biological research; third, in respect to ethical implications of human-centered biological research on lower animals and the environment; fourth, in respect to the proper reporting of biological research. These areas overlap and converge in the manner of all disciplines in which implications are as crucial as the focus of research itself.

In discussing the potential for or desirability of environmental biology to point in the direction of ethical understanding, Ruse and Wilson present views that are challenged by Kitcher. The focus of their discussion is consistent with the first two areas described here. The ethical implications of biological research on human beings, whether as a species or in select groups, surface because of the ethical component of human experience. According to Ruse and Wilson,

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ist metaethics. Unfortunately, this position makes nonsense of Wilson's project of using biological insights to fashion an improved moral code and also leads to the unpalatable conclusion that there are no grounds for judging those whom we see as morally perverse. The second position gives priority to certain desires, which are to be uncovered through sociobiological investigation and are to be the foundation of improved moral codes, but it fails to explain what normative standard gives these desires priority or how that standard is grounded in biology (Kitcher, 444). In Kitcher's view, emotivist metaethics is not a strong enough basis for the source of moral intuition, especially when biology is argued as the basis of morality in the first place. Action against self-interest or desire in the service of a higher social standard, whether altruistic or reciprocal, cannot be explained biologically. More troubling are the ethical implications of asserting that moral cultures are biologically determined. Ruse and Wilson say that an individual "functions more efficiently in the social setting if he obeys the generally accepted moral code of his society than if he follows moment-by-moment egocentric calculations" (RW, 432). They also

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