Publisher's Synopsis
After the downfall of Senator Joseph McCarthy, it was assumed that the principles of academic freedom had become part of "the common law" of American higher education - honored in theory and, except for episodic and eccentric violations in the hinterland, scrupulously observed in practice. A decade or so later, as the climate of academia became heavily politicized and small but influential groups among students and faculties charged the universities with complicity in supporting the evils of racism, war, poverty and pollution, and demanded that the universities as corporate entities take public stands on controversial social and political issues, the principles of academic freedom were again problematic. With the eruption of violence on the campuses of leading universities, the issue became acute.
In the past, freedom to teach and to learn had been threatened by forces outside the academic community. Now these threats came from within. Among the consequences of the unprecedented turmoil, there developed a widespread concern with the restructuring of the curriculum, the governances of the university, and above all, the rights and responsibilities of members of the academic community. Of particular importance was the question of the nature of the teacher's vocation, and of the ethics of teaching. Because of political developments, and even more so because of the alleged dangers of certain types of scientific experiments to mankind, questions of the nature, justification and limits of scientific research challenged accepted conceptions of the autonomy of scientific inquiry in the social and physical disciplines.
This volume contains the deliberations of more than a score of thoughtful and distinguished scientists, philosophers, and jurists on the ethics of teaching and the ethics of research.
