Intellectual laziness and academic dishonesty: A threat to academic freedom?

摘要

Academic freedom matters; it matters a great deal. It is a sine qua non for the success of our science system. When scientists invoke academic freedom whenever they are expected to account, then this poses a threat to academic freedom. It is a perversion of the principle of academic freedom, when it appears to be equated to ‘free speech when exercised by scientists’, irrespective of whether what the scientist says is informed by expert knowledge or is informed by the findings of rigorous academic research. Academic freedom goes considerably beyond free speech. Amongst other things, academic freedom means that scientists have the freedom not to be hindered in their pursuit of ‘truth’, in an attempt to push back the boundaries of knowledge, and that they have the freedom to disseminate their findings without fear of victimisation. This freedom comes with responsibility and society must hold scientists to higher levels of ethical conduct of research, of accuracy and truthfulness in their reporting. When they appear to fall short, society has an obligation to hold them to account. Scientists pose a threat to academic freedom when they (ab)use academic freedom as both a spear and a shield: a spear used to attack and a shield behind which they hide when expected to explain themselves.