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It has been an argument for a long time whether people are supposed to reveal or conceal knowledge that they have gained. It is common to observe situations and events where people have intentionally withheld information which could have been used for the benefit of society.
In this regard, it has been argued by many people that possession of knowledge comes with ethical responsibility, especially concerning the use of information gained. However, there is always a conflict of interests when one contemplates on whether to reveal or conceal information he or she has learned. Therefore, it is important to explore the idea as to whether people become ethically responsible by means of possessing knowledge.
To begin with, it is paramount to define what is meant by ethical responsibility. Ethics is generally defined in society as the ability to choose right from the wrong, and differentiate between good behavior and bad behavior. Some people go further and consider ethical responsibility as the possibility of one to prevent evil from taking place, and nurturing good deeds as being ethically correct.
However, ethics does not necessarily mean good and bad; right and wrong, or evil and prosperity. It goes deeper to stress on what can critically be regarded as expected code of conduct in society. In general, ethics entails moral values that are used to define the behavior of a person in society, and thus dictates what is expected of a person.
It should be noted that ethics does not only guide behaviors that are peculiar to given societies, but also includes what can be referred to as universal code of conduct. In this regard, ethical responsibility refers to the societal expectation that people will do anything within their power to prevent both themselves and others from harm.
Based on the above definition, it follows that possession of knowledge comes with ethical responsibility, though this depends on the kind of information. Firstly, it is the ethical responsibility of every person to make society a better place to live in. In this regard, if by any chance one happens to have knowledge of an event, either happening or about to happen, which can cause destruction to the society, the person is bound to reveal the information.
Take for example a person who has knowledge about a criminal gang or a crime that has taken place. If the person keeps quite, the crime will go unreported or the criminal gang will continue with their heinous activities causing harm to members of the society.
If the matter is reported, there are more chances that the criminals will be arrested, so there might be less future crimes. Consequently, possessing the information like this will impose an ethical responsibility on a person to report the matter to respective authorities.
Similarly, some knowledge imposes commitment and challenge to the person with the knowledge to react or risk many people’s lives. People with knowledge about some live threatening or live saving ideas are obliged to share the information, or use the information for the benefit of everyone in the society.
However, in certain instances there is a conflict of interest between saving one’s live and the society, while putting personal life in jeopardy. If a person finds some food in a hidden place and the whole village is starving, the person will be torn between telling the other members of the village about the food and serving personal interests.
Ethics demands that the food is shared among village members. On the other hand, giving the food to the society members means risking personal life since there is no guarantee that food will be found again.
The case where Daniel Elisberg made public the pentagon papers that contained illegal and unconstitutional issues that were being perpetrated by the president and high ranking officials have been debated for long. Daniel knew that the public was being deceived especially regarding Vietnam War.
It should be noted that the whole public was being misguided by the very institution that was supposed to guide the nation. Ethical responsibility calls on any person to prevent any evil in society; lies are part of evil in the society. It was, therefore, Daniel’s ethical responsibility to make the public aware of the correct information.
However, there are instances when advantages and disadvantages of ethical responsibility have to be weighed before making any decision. Take the case where scientists discover some new technologies which can help in improving society, but can also be misused by evil minded people.
Scientists will be ethically obliged to release the technology to the public to be used in making life easier. On the other hand, conscience will trouble the scientists in case the technology is misused because they will feel responsible for the effects.
In this situation, a choice has to be made because the ethical responsibility is two way, namely, aiding the society in making their lives easier and protecting evil from occurring. Ethics requires that a person should always endeavor for happiness not only for himself but also for others. Consequently, scientists have the obligation of ensuring that they use their knowledge to make the society a happy place to live in.
Moreover, some roles in the society enable one person to have knowledge about some important issues which either need to be kept secret or made public for the sake of others. Managers of companies usually have knowledge of some secret company information which can be used against the firm if enemies find it.
Consequently, directors and any other people who happen to have this information are ethically obliged to use the information in a way that is only beneficial to the company. It should be noted that managers and company directors are ethically bound to protect company assets, including information.
On the same note, various professionals usually have knowledge that is beneficial to the society. During medical emergencies, doctors are called upon to use their knowledge to save lives. Some of the situations might be risky to the doctors themselves. Under normal circumstances, every human being will choose to protect personal live over society.
Nevertheless, doctors have a moral duty of helping people and will thus have to help the situation. The case is the same for other professionals for example, police officers, fire fighters and engineers, to name a few. Therefore, accessing any kind of knowledge comes with ethical responsibility either to reveal or to conceal the same.
It all depends on whether the knowledge can cause harm or reprieve when revealed. All in all, it is upon each and every one of us to make informed choices whenever faced with ethical dilemmas, especially regarding possession of knowledge.
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