Abstract

The modern practice of biological research required the formation of a new ethics of biology, which became a synthesis of observation and experiment. The article considers the ethical aspects of modern biology from the point of view of criticism of the anthropocentric approach. A position has been put forward on the lifetime of a modern biological group as the main criterion for its place and role in the evolution of living things. The consequence of this is the need to form an attitude towards biodiversity as a one-time and equal coexistence of diverse groups of representatives of wildlife. A conceptual connection is proposed between the new ethics of biology and the classical ethical construction – the "golden rule" of ethics, and the ethics of naturalistic biology, which is inextricably linked with it, coming from the ethics of science of Goethe and Meyen. The proposed ethical concept of biology includes several elements, called "principles" by the author, which together cover all aspects of the ethics of biological research. These are the principles: 1. Biological diversity as the basis of biological "equality". 2. "Watch no touch" – look, do not touch – the ethics of "virtual experiment". 3. "Ethical means accurate" – adherence to ethically "pure" approaches to an object as a condition for obtaining accurate information about a living object.