Responsibility as Method - A Model for Operationalizing Ethical Reflection in the Sciences

Lutz, Ralf; Weber, Christoph; Vogt, Markus ; Treutner, Felix; Slotta, Christopher; Potthast, Thomas; Frank, Daniel und Weihgold, Vanessa (2025): Responsibility as Method - A Model for Operationalizing Ethical Reflection in the Sciences. In: Ecological Civilization, Vol. 2, No. 1, 10014

Abstract

In this article, we show why the growing significance of ethics entails that the call for ethical evaluations is no longer just a specific issue for the particular discipline of academic ethics but a challenge for all academic researchers. Therefore, complex theoretical approaches must be put into practice, and the relationship between ethics and other scientific fields must be clarified. Hence, this essay shows how these requirements can be fulfilled and how to cope with the complexity of ethical consideration on a practical level. We aim to operationalize responsibility as a method. In order to achieve this, basic criteria of practical ethical reflection are elaborated. As a result, we suggest an extended ethical matrix covering the entire research process using a step-by-step model. Our ethical matrix is designed to help researchers reflect and make judgments on moral and ethical issues, enabling them to find their own solutions to these challenges without providing a formal guideline for moral decision-making.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Keywords: Ethical matrix ; Conflict of interests ; Growing significance of ethics ; Responsibility in the sciences
• Faculties: Catholic Theology > Chair of Christian Social Ethics
• Subjects: 100 Philosophy and Psychology > 170 Ethics
• ISSN: 2957-4455
• Language: English