Frankenstein Unethical Essay Sample

Although unethical scientific experiments are wrong to conduct, they give us a surprising amount of information that is unobtainable in other ways. There are many unethical experiments such as the Tuskegee syphilis study, the Stanford Prison Experiment, and the CIA's LSD studies, and those done by the Nazis. All of these experiments are looked down upon by all but at the same time it showed us the limitations of certain objects such as the human body.

Victor Frankenstein from the book Frankenstein had done an unethical experiment but created life with it. He mixed human body parts, random chemicals and even lighting from a predicted storm to create a man. Although Victor used human body parts unethically, he still managed to do some good with them by reusing them. He did however mess with the natural creation of life and thought of himself as god for creating a new species. In the book he states, ”A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.” He was heavily punished by his own creation because he pushed too far past the boundaries and messed with God, making it cross the line of ethicality. Though he crossed the line, there was some good that was gained in this experiment, the fact that it is possible to create human life. Unethical experiments are bad to conduct but if they are conducted there can be good information that comes out of it. Still, this does not give one the right to conduct these terrible tests.

The study of syphilis was conducted in a very unethical way. Their ethical boundary was more than crossed on an experiment tested by Tuskegee due to the facts that it wasn't even needed and the patients were still alive. We really did not need to know what happens if a disease is untreated because our first priority is to help not hurt. The Tuskegee syphilis study was conducted by not treated African-American men who had syphilis without their consent. According to a CDC website, “There is no evidence that researchers obtained informed consent from participants, and participants were not offered available treatments, even after penicillin became widely available.” These men were untreated and even died for a sum of money and an experiment. The men understood it to be a special healthcare program that they were a part of, they didn’t think they would be used as human sacrifices. This was a very unethical experiment but we did gain important information on the disease syphilis such as its effects on life expectancy. Now, due to the unfortunate sacrifices of about 400 African American men, we know that it is very much better to treat syphilis. 

To be fair, some if not most unethical experiments can help save many lives in the future and provides some useful information, but not this one. The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted on students as a social study. Twentyfour students were paid fifteen dollars a day to roleplay as a prisoner or prison guard in a two-week period. The conducted study also received a grant by US Naval Research. According to a website regarding facts about the experiment, “The purpose was to understand the development of norms and the effects of roles, labels, and social expectations in a simulated  prison environment.” It sounds like an ethical experiment but the psychological and mental side effects of this experiment were unaccounted for. The students took this to a serious level, especially the guards. Students started to be tortured and abused to a point of dehumanization by the very own hands of their companions. The poor students had to endure this horrifying experience  for a whole six days. It was stopped due to the guards becoming overly abusive and the prisoners were showing extreme signs of severe anxiety and stress. This experiment was a complete failure and nothing was gained from it. Thankfully all the students recovered from this dreadful experiment. 

Another failed and unethical study was done by our very own CIA. The LSD experiment also known as Project MKUltra was conducted in response to supposed use of drugs and hypnotism by the Soviets, Koreans and Chinese. This experiment's goal was to see if a drug that would force people to tell the truth could be created. It was done illegally on sex workers, prisonors who where drug addicts, people with terminal cancer, and even canadians whom in which where all helpless and couldnt fight back. They work force into a test for a drug that was supposedly already created. There were many scientists involved in this experiment but many if not most did not know the extremities they were dealing with. The CIA tried to torture and manipulate the mind in many other ways as well. These methods include large doses of drugs such as LSD, harmful chemicals, hypnosis, torture of all sensories (deprivision), shocks, isolation, and verbal and sexual abuse. So much tortue was involved in this experiment but we do not know all of the extremities due to the fact that they destroyed most of the evidence. They knew that what they were doing was wrong but they still did it to make it highly unethical. The main reason this test was conducted was because of paranoia. The CIA is very sketchy because they have a record for these highly illegal activities. Paranoia does not give the right to perform such drastic and horrifying experiments.

The most extreme procedures done in this world were the ones done by the nazis. They tortured, killed, murdered, abused, and did many other things to an uncountable amount of helpless Jewish people. The Jewish people were like the Nazis labrats. Some experiments they did are altitude pressure resistance, potential cure for hypothermia, finding ways to make seawater drinkable, cures for illnesses and diseases gained on the field, the use of mustard gas to cure diseases, twin telepathy experiments, inexpensive mass sterilization, and countless more. According to a holocaust encyclepedia website one of their biggest experiments was that, “ scientists used camp inmates to test immunization compounds and antibodies for the prevention and treatment of contagious diseases, including malaria, typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, yellow fever, and infectious hepatitis.” It was the most unethical time history has ever seen, however so much crucial information was gained due to these experiments. The Nazis found that X-rays can cause genetic damage. They also found pesticides such as DDT in alcohol. They even figured out that cancer can be caused by tobacco and discovered eugenics. They created campaigns for discouraging the use of alcohol. When we view the holocaust we only see the number 6 million but it hides the fact that good came out of this gruesome genocide. Does the good make the holocaust a good thing?

The main question at hand is should we lower our ethical ratings due to the fact that good comes out of unethical experiments? In my opinion, I do not think we should due to the fact that lives were lost and taken without repercussions or consequences. I do not believe that the methods the information was acquired in were a just reason to conduct these experiments, however I believe that there were many things we learned that helped save millions overtime and advance very far in many different areas including medically and mentally, but again this information is not worth even one life let alone six million. Due to these facts, I believe that ethics play a huge role in science. If there is no ethical method an experiment can be done in, it should not be done.