About

The impetus behind the scientific method is to answer questions. Why is the sky blue? Do objects of different mass fall at different rates? Will ordinary human beings inflict punishment upon other humans – up to and including lethal force – as long as they are told they are not responsible?

Many of these questions can and already have been answered through carefully designed and ethically executed studies.

This Institute is not concerned with those studies.

Some questions may only be answered through studies which could be considered unethical. Other questions may be answered through studies which could be considered ethical, but another, potentially unethical study could also attempt the same. Another set of questions may be of dubious value to society when evaluated against the costs involved.

The Institute exists to catalog, examine, and discuss studies which could potentially violate one or more widely-accepted ethical principles of conduct or research.