Without harming the other person

The term “ethics” today has an unprecedented notoriety, being used in contexts and relating to the most varied, sometimes even contradictory, actions. Behavioral ethics refers both to the statements or actions of a public figure, and to alleged social justice, marginalization and “Cancel Culture” media lynching. The university environment is, par excellence, a generator and, at the same time, a defender of ethical principles, despite its versatility derived from the multitude and specificity of fields. The criminalization of plagiarism, combating discrimination or abuse are, one by one, topics of discussion in the ethics commissions of universities. At the level of doctoral education, especially in the field of applied research, moral norms become referential benchmarks. If art has its own moral code, why wouldn't we apply the same units of measurement to artistic research? How far can we safely “drill” without hurting the other person? When we research can we “shelter” behind the specific freedoms of creation? Who sets the limits and on what terms? We don't know if we can answer these queries, but we can try to theorize some of the ethical filters that govern the act of research, using concrete examples from here and there.