A paradigm change in research ethics

Abstract

An overarching theory for research ethics which determines what we owe to human beings in clinical research is absent. Thus far, the debate has focused mainly on negative obligations towards human subjects, such as the idea that participants must not be exploited or not be used merely as a means. A theory of research ethics should also take into account the positive obligations of what we owe to human beings. However, in order to establish this theory, we first need to reflect on the paradigm in which such a theory is framed. In this paper we argue that the current paradigm in research ethics is changing. Human subjects research seems to be regarded as an ordinary rather than an extraordinary practice in our society. Hence, research involving human beings does not deserve justification primarily because it is inherently problematic to enrol them in clinical research. A paradigm in which an immediate need to justify an unjustifiable practice is absent, may alter and influence our ideas on what we owe to human beings in research, both in a negative and positive sense.