A GRESHAM'S LAW FOR ETHICS

In the mid–nineteenth century, the British economist Thomas Gresham enunciated the brilliant observation that became known as Gresham's law, that bad money drives good money out of circulation. In other words, if people are faced with the option of paying a debt with either of two currencies of the same face value, they will pay with the one possessing lower intrinsic value. A similar law could be articulated regarding social-ethical questions – especially those associated with science and technology: Bad moral thinking tends to drive good moral thinking out of circulation.

As in the case of money, it is not difficult to see why this should happen. In our society, there is little occasion for reflection on moral questions. This is a fortiori the case regarding those questions associated with science and technology, for one must be scientifically literate before one can engage the ethical questions generated by science.

As I shall shortly discuss, scientists do little to educate the public about moral issues, because most are trained to ignore them. In practice, then, what emerges as “ethical or moral issues” is shaped by the media. The media, as one reporter told me during the Baby Fae case, are “primarily interested in selling papers.” What sells papers is what can be packaged in small, provocative bits and what can be dramatically presented as black-and-white extremes.