Ethos of science in profession of scientist

The importance of science in the modern society increases every year. The development of new technologies has increasingly serious and various impact on social life; the number of persons involved in scientific research increases, therefore reducing the interval of time between research activities and their practical application. Rapid development of scientific and technical progress has resulted in emergence of new problems and moral situations related to ethics. Today’s problem of scientists’ responsibility for results of his/her activities and meaningful elaboration of scientific product is of particular interest for the society. Science turns into production force and there will be a greater degree of scientists’ responsibility towards the society and the mankind. Thus, we can look at the science as an object of moral estimation, and the research and results of scientific knowledge should be subject to ethical regulation of scientific activities. The author reveals such the main concepts as ethics of science, ethos of science, as well as the question of responsibility of scientists in modern society.The problem of the responsibility of the scientists is closely linked to issues of personal freedom and moral choice. The article establishes basic standards of professional ethics of the scientist, such as prohibition of plagiarism, distortion of the results of scientific research, unselfish search and defense of truth, the problem of freedom of scientific research and social responsibility of the researcher etc. The problem of moral assessment of scientist’s cognitive activities themselves, the used term for which is ethos of science is of special interest for scientific ethics. In the first half of the 20th century, R. Merton brought forth the moral imperatives of a scientist in the field of Universalism, Communism, Disinterestedness, Organized scepticism, which, in spite of criticism, were practically the only system of a scientist's moral standards proposed by the sociology of science. Robert Merton’s concept determined ethical standards serving for approval and defense of specific scientific values, including unselfish search and defense of truth. Social norms codified in scientific ethos by R. Merton into so-called CODUS are presented by four basic principles – Universalism, Communism, Disinterestedness and the Organized Skepticism.