I was having a conversation with a group of friends the other day and the subject has been sticking on my mind since then. I feel like the answer is quite simple, but I can’t really think of arguments to back up each side.
Does the possession of knowledge carry an ethical responsibility?
I’d be grateful if you guys could give me your opinion.
Thanks!
I want to know more about your conversation first. (Also, 'cause I kind of suspect this may be a homework assignment, so I want to make sure you’re doing the thinking here. I have previous knowledge that people often ask homework questions when they join this board, and an ethical responsibility to not do their work for them, though I’m happy to help out. 
)
Are you talking about, like, “I know there’s a bomb in the parking structure, do I have an ethical responsibility to call the police?” or more like, “I took a nutrition class in college, do I have an ethical responsibility to tell fat people in the mall how to eat?” or even, “I saw a recall for that exact model of baby stroller, should I tell the mom at the park?”
Does the motivation of the speaker matter? Do the consequences of not speaking up matter? *Edited to add: Does the relationship of the knowledge holder to the ignorant matter? *
What do YOU think?
And welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board! This is actually a fantastic place to ask this sort of question, and you’re likely to get a lot of varied opinions and food for thought. Just keep coming back and responding to the thread so we know you’re still invested in it, okay?
It came from a debate we had in school about a week ago. We were all encouraged to share our opinions, but unexpectedly a lot of us disagreed with each other on some of the issues. I only really thought of the “deep” side of the question. A first argument I though of was to do with Einstein and his ethical responsibility in discovering the atomic bomb, and whether he had an ethical responsibility for what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This to me was quite obviously yes, but then some of my peers argued that it was not of his responsibility, but of the people (US government) that actually detonated the bomb. So I was interested to have the input of some other people out there. So it originated from a class discussion, but then developed into an argument with my friends that we are still talking about.
Oh, do I have a short story recommendation for you! It’s read-in-one-setting short, and I think you’ll really like it. I think it’s even available on line. Hang on…
YES! The Feeling of Power, by Isaac Asimov. I’d love to know what you think of it.
Nice catch, Der Trihs. I guess franklinmarshall has an ethical obligation not to let pchaos see this. Unless… hmmm…
As a fan of Einstein I want to point out that he did not discover the atomic bomb. He discovered that time does not happen the same way everyplace and for everybody, and more broadly that time and space and matter and energy are all bound together and different faces of a previously unstated deeper reality. That he figured out a more true nature of time itself is a far cry from killing a hundred thousand people in a moment. The United States government had told the Manhattan Project physicists that Hitler was about to deliver an atomic bomb, and on the basis of the available information they more or less saved the world.
Knowledge is a funny thing. Politicians are politicians.
Nice story. Quite interesting to see the parallel with the exact same problem but the other way around in today’s world. It’s a neat real world example of the correlation between knowledge and power. Especially in science. One of the big disasters of today is that a lot of the power is in the hands of people that don’t always understand what they are dealing with…
Thanks for the specifications! Do I look stupid by asking who pchaos is?
Here I am. And by the way, Czarcasm would say that he has an ethical duty to ask me to define, “Here I am,” in terms even he can understand.
I think he might be one of your classmates, or sharing a teacher perhaps, since you’ve both posted the same homework question.
It would be nicer for the board if you at least voiced your opinions rather than just saying, ‘I wish to hear both sides’. Makes it sound like you want us to do all your work for you. Or perhaps entertain you?
I always think it’s a little boorish to lay out a topic, without sharing any of your own thoughts , and then say, ‘discuss’. Sounds like a high school test question. It’d be nicer, I think, if you put a little more effort into it, before we provide your homework answers for you. Just my opinion, of course, you are welcome to do as you wish.