Logic, methodology and philosophy of science VIII proceedings of the eighth international congress of logic, methodology and philosophy of science, and philosophy of science proceedings) ( PDFDrive ) 75

56 E AGAZZI results the sacrifices made by the community, while it might prove more difficult to show the same, in the case of the simple acquisition of knowledge This shows, among other things, how superficial the idea is that ethical problems are typical of applied science while hardly being of concern to pure science Considering the consequences The last point of this analysis concerns the possible consequences of scientific research It is an obvious moral principle that one is responsible for the consequences of one’s actions, and therefore has the duty of trying to foresee them to the extent possible We mean, of course, the unintended consequences, for those that are intended are simply to be numbered among the goals of the action This problem has come to the focus of ethical discussions regarding science, owing to the dramatic impact of certain unexpected tragic consequences of technological development, and of the generalized concern about the potentially enormous dangers of an uncontrolled growth of this development The problem is not new in ethics, however, and has led to the formulation of the so-called “double effect principle” in the tradition This principle strictly applies to those cases in which the intended end of an action necessarily entails morally unacceptable consequences; but in a more or less stringent way it also applies to those cases in which such consequences are to be expected only with high probability In such cases the first thing to is to examine whether it is possible to renounce pursuit of the goal-in order to avoid the unacceptable consequences -and if this is possible, it is also morally dutiful to renounce Here we have a kind of counterpart of the principle “the end does not justify the means”, since it is said that “the end does not justify the consequences”; both statements express a criticism of the thesis that all that matters in ethics is one’s intention in performing an act However, there are situations in which pursuing the goal has the connotations of a moral obligation In these cases one has to compare the importance of the two values (the value that is served by the action, and the value that is violated by the consequences of the action), and sacrifice the one that is less important or, to put it differently, to “choose the lesser of two evils” A classical case in which this principle is advocated is that of the “therapeutic abortion”, where omitting a certain therapy would mean exposing the life of the mother to a serious risk, while