Ethics in the humanities

Abstract

Ethical behavior is critical in both academic and professional life. Because most professionals and academics work collaboratively with other people, it is important for them to behave ethically in order to develop quality collaborative relationships, so that they can trust each other. Because of the importance of ethical behavior in academic and professional settings, research and training programs aimed at improving ethical behavior, and the cognitive processes underlying ethical behavior are becoming increasingly widespread (National Institutes of Health 2002; Steneck 2002). These research and training efforts have largely focused on professionals in the sciences and business. Ethical behavior, however, is important in any endeavor which involves multiple people working together. The Humanities have largely been ignored in explorations of ethical issues, particularly with regard to research ethics. This chapter argues that extending knowledge of ethical issues into the Humanities domain is important in order to identify the ethical problems faced by individuals in the Humanities, so that tailored research and training on these types of situations can help these individuals to deal with such problems.