The sociology of contemporary research ethics
This article provides a sociological understanding of the growing importance of moral maximalism in the field of research ethics. It advances five complimentary analytical approaches, as follow : 1- the ongoing evolution in the societal conditions of “systemic trust” (Luhmann) which define a new normative framework ; 2- the banalization of “ordinary risk” (Beck) as a societal relationship upon which moral maximalism is based ; 3- the institutionalisation of “self-reflexive cynicism” (Sloterdijk) as a shared, central tenet of inquiry in the field of research ethics ; 4- the basic contradiction between “moral maximalism” and “ethical minimalism” as the societal outcome of new, normative conditions of trust ; 5- the paradoxical position that the precept of self-determination in contemporary societies is championed as a fundamental principle of individual identity yet subordinated by bureaucratic precautionism and moral providentialism.