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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethics in mathematics | 1/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics_in_mathematics | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T04:23:02.711795+00:00 | kb-cron |
Ethics in mathematics is an emerging field of applied ethics, the inquiry into ethical aspects of the practice and applications of mathematics. It deals with the professional responsibilities of mathematicians whose work influences decisions with major consequences, such as in law, finance, the military, and environmental science. When understood in its socio-economic context, the development of mathematical works can lead to ethical questions ranging from the handling and manipulation of big data to questions of responsible mathematisation and falsification of models, explainable and safe mathematics, as well as many issues related to communication and documentation. The usefulness of a Hippocratic oath for mathematicians is an issue of ongoing debate among scholars. As an emerging field of applied ethics, many of its foundations are still highly debated. The discourse remains in flux. Especially the notion that mathematics can do harm remains controversial. The ethical questions surrounding the practice of mathematics can be connected to issues of dual-use. An instrumental interpretation of the impact of mathematics makes it difficult to see ethical consequences, yet it might be easier to see how all branches of mathematics serve to structure and conceptualize solutions to real problems. These structures can set up perverse incentives, where targets can be met without improving services, or league table positions are gamed. While the assumptions written into metrics often reflect the worldview of the groups who are responsible for designing them, they are harder for non-experts to challenge, leading to injustices. As mathematicians can enter the workforce of industrialised nations in many places that are no longer limited to teaching and academia, scholars have made the argument that it is necessary to add ethical training into the mathematical curricula at universities. The philosophical positions on the relationship between mathematics and ethics are varied. Some philosophers (e.g. Plato) see both mathematics and ethics as rational and similar, while others (e.g. Rudolf Carnap) see ethics as irrational and different from mathematics. Possible tensions between applying mathematics in a social context and its ethics can already be observed in Plato's Republic (Book VIII) where the use of mathematics to produce better guardians plays a critical role in its collapse.
== Need for ethics in the mathematics profession == Mathematicians in industrial, scientific, military and intelligence roles crucially influence decisions with significant consequences.
=== Issues of accuracy === For example, complex calculations were needed for the success of the Manhattan Project, while the overextended use of the Gaussian copula formula to price derivatives before the 2008 financial crisis has been called "the formula that killed Wall Street", and the theory of global warming depends on the reliability of mathematical models of climate.
=== Issues of impact === For the same reason as in medical ethics and engineering ethics, the high impact of the consequences of decisions imposes serious ethical obligations on practitioners to consider the rights and wrongs of their advice and decisions. The potential impact of data and new technology is leading more professions, such as accountancy, to consider how bias is overseen in automated systems, from algorithms to AI. Due to its large impact and its necessity in the modern industrialised world, mathematics has been labelled as a new factor of production by some scholars. Mathematics is a fundamental driver of today's economies and plays an everyday role in the decision making in capitalist markets. When studied in its socio-economic context, the debates surrounding the ethical use of mathematics often go under different names, e.g. some people speak of the ethics of quantification. These discourses are often disjoint from those directly affecting or driven by parts of the mathematical community.
== Disasters involving the use of mathematics == These illustrate the major consequences of numerical mistakes and hence the need for ethical care.
The Club of Rome's 1972 mathematical-model-based predictions in The Limits to Growth of widespread collapse of the world system by the end of the 21st century. The wrongful conviction of Sally Clark (1999), An English solicitor, Sally Clark, was wrongfully convicted of murdering her two children – each of whom had died due to sudden infant death syndrome – due to a fundamental statistical error in the testimony of an "expert". The error was further compounded by the "prosecutor's fallacy".
== Ethical issues in the mathematical profession == Mathematicians have a professional responsibility to support the ethical use of mathematics in practice, both to sustain the reputation of the profession and to protect society from the impacts of unethical behavior. For example, mathematics is extensively applied in the use of Big Data in Artificial Intelligence applications, both by mathematicians and non-mathematicians, with complex impacts that are not readily understood or anticipated.
== Ethics in data journalism == Journalism has established Professional ethics which is affected by mathematical processing and (re-)publication of sources. Reusing information packaged as facts require checking, and validating, from conceptual confusion to sampling and calculation errors. Other professional issues arise from the potential of automated tools which allow the dissemination of publicly available data which has never been collated.
== Misuse of statistics ==
Applications of mathematics generally involve drawing conclusions from quantitative data. Due to uncertainties that mathematical models deal with, and challenges in drawing and communicating any conclusions, there is a possibility of mathematicians misleading the clients as they are not generally aware of quantitative techniques. To avoid such instances, statisticians codified their ethics in the 1980s in a declaration of the ISI, recognizing that there would often be conflicting demands from stakeholders, with ethical decisions a matter of professional judgment.
== Mathematical folklore ==
Priority and attribution of mathematical discovery are important to professional practice, even as some theorems bear the name of the person making the conjecture rather than finding the proof. Folk theorems, or mathematical folklore cannot be attributed to an individual, and may not have an agreed proof, despite being an accepted result, potentially leading to injustice.