Expertise in research ethics: is there any such thing?

Abstract

In this paper, I consider the question of whether there is such a thing as 'expertise in research ethics'. I discuss first the issue of expertise in ethics more generally. There is quite a lot of resistance to the idea that there are ethics experts, for reasons which I will raise and respond to. I outline two different views of what might be counted as expertise in ethics, and argue that only one of these is defensible. But the defensible view is also a useful view. Ethics expertise in this sense does exist. It is a set of generic analytic skills and knowledge of ideas and logical processes. Expertise in research ethics is a particular type of ethics expertise, and I give a brief account of ..