ETHICS FOR WEED SCIENCE

Those engaged in agriculture including the subdiscipline - weed science possess a definite but unexamined moral confidence or certainty about the correctness of what they do. This paper examines the origins of that confidence and questions its continued validity. The basis of the moral confidence is not obvious to those who have it, or to the public. In fact the moral confidence that pervades agriculture and weed science is potentially harmful because it is unexamined. This paper advocates analysis of what it is about agriculture s moral confidence and its interactions with the greater society that inhibits or limits agriculture s development and contributions. All engaged in agriculture should strive to nourish and strengthen the aspects of agriculture that are beneficial and change those that are not. To do this we must be confident to study ourselves, our institutions, and be dedicated to the task of modifying the goals of both.