4 ms·

I'll bite. Why is it unethical? As for its being unscientific, I'm also curious as to what standards of evidence people think are appropriate to biographical an

I'll bite. Why is it unethical? As for its being unscientific, I'm also curious as to what standards of evidence people think are appropriate to biographical and literary-historical matters.

snotrockets 3y ago
I'll bite back: no informed consent. It's the most basic requirement from every research on human subjects.
- pfannkuchen 3y ago
  If I speculate that Donald Trump is a narcissist based on publicly available information, would that be unethical? If not, how is it different?
  - snotrockets 3y ago
    (I'm assuming) you are not a professional and this isn't a professional opinion. Me calling someone "dumb", maybe offensive, probably impolite, but as I'm not qualified to asses intelligence, carries little weight. A professional whose job is to asses mental capacity calling someone "dumb": just as offensive, but also unethical.
- xhevahir 3y ago
  So, to take another example, if I were to say that Jonathan Swift appears to have suffered from depression, that would be a breach of ethics as you understand it?
  - akiselev 3y ago
    Yes though professionals agree to a medical code of ethics, whereas you probably didn’t. See discussions of the Goldwater rule [1] in psychiatry for more in depth explanations because it’s hard to explain without going into the very dark history of medical research and treatment. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule
  - snotrockets 3y ago
    You as a rando on the internet? Not, because your opinion doesn't carry much weight, if at all. You in a professional capacity? Of course.
    - xhevahir 3y ago
      You still haven't answered my question as to whether this medical code of conduct applies to a writer working in the fields of history or literary criticism (such as the scholar whose paper I mentioned above); nor the question of whether "scientific" is a quality one can reasonably expect of work in these disciplines.
      - snotrockets 3y ago
        Baron-Cohen is a clinical psychologist.

I'll bite. Why is it unethical? As for its being unscientific, I'm also curious as to what standards of evidence people think are appropriate to biographical and literary-historical matters.

snotrockets 3y ago

I'll bite back: no informed consent. It's the most basic requirement from every research on human subjects.

pfannkuchen 3y ago
If I speculate that Donald Trump is a narcissist based on publicly available information, would that be unethical? If not, how is it different?
- snotrockets 3y ago
  (I'm assuming) you are not a professional and this isn't a professional opinion. Me calling someone "dumb", maybe offensive, probably impolite, but as I'm not qualified to asses intelligence, carries little weight. A professional whose job is to asses mental capacity calling someone "dumb": just as offensive, but also unethical.
xhevahir 3y ago
So, to take another example, if I were to say that Jonathan Swift appears to have suffered from depression, that would be a breach of ethics as you understand it?
- akiselev 3y ago
  Yes though professionals agree to a medical code of ethics, whereas you probably didn’t. See discussions of the Goldwater rule [1] in psychiatry for more in depth explanations because it’s hard to explain without going into the very dark history of medical research and treatment. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule
- snotrockets 3y ago
  You as a rando on the internet? Not, because your opinion doesn't carry much weight, if at all. You in a professional capacity? Of course.
  - xhevahir 3y ago
    You still haven't answered my question as to whether this medical code of conduct applies to a writer working in the fields of history or literary criticism (such as the scholar whose paper I mentioned above); nor the question of whether "scientific" is a quality one can reasonably expect of work in these disciplines.
    - snotrockets 3y ago
      Baron-Cohen is a clinical psychologist.