A World of Quality: Codes of Conduct, Phenomenology of Feeling and Morality in Scientific Research

The past decades have seen the introduction, in scientific institutions, of codes of conduct that describe good practices of scientific research and clarify which behavior is not to be tolerated. They find their basis in some version of the norms of science formulated by Robert K. Merton in 1942. They tend to have a double effect, on the one hand streamlining procedures and preventing unprofessional behavior, on the other reducing personal responsibility, while externalizing morality in a body of rules. To repair this problem I propose to turn to the so called 'phenomenology of feeling', developed by Max Scheler and improved in an important respect by Stephan Strasser. This approach highlights personal responsibility, while understanding the world as a world of quality, to which we connect through 'value-ception' - the experiencing of value. It promises ways to reconstruct codes of conduct in such a way that they not only focus on rules for behavior, but also stimulate personal responsibility by taking positive values as the condition for a good working climate in science.