Geo-scientific Culture and Geoethics

Abstract

The ethics of science is an integral part of the (scientific) culture(s) of any modern society. It is part of how sciences are embedded in society and how society shapes scientific practices. The modes, how society appropriates sciences reflect societal practices and always imply ethical issues. Regulated and codified ethics are essential for a well-functioning scientific system. Geosciences are exposed to ethical issues in a specific manner (see previous book, “Exploring Geoethics”) because geosciences, such as meteorology, hydrology or volcanology, are directly applied in society’s daily practices, compared to theoretical physics or mathematics, for example. Thus, the geosciences’ scientific culture is strongly intertwined with the ethics of society in general and professional ethics of scholarly work, in particular. It is, therefore, important that geoethics identifies and represents those interactions. Subsequently, the current situation of the geoscience-society interface would be better understood, and foresight would be more reliable, for example, of how geosciences are applied in the design of future societal pathways (e.g. carbon emission pathways).