The Mindful Scientist: How Meditation Could Support Ethical Scientific Practice
Mindfulness September 2, 2025 Kevin Berryman, Yanli Lin, Sara W. Lazar et al. 4 citations
Personal virtues such as conscience, harmlessness, and equanimity may help scientists adhere to ethical principles like accountability and objectivity, but this connection is underexplored. Cultivating mindful ethical virtues through meditation could strengthen these personal traits, bridging the gap between external ethical frameworks and internal motivations for scientific conduct. A framework mapping this conceptual alignment is outlined, and Mindfulness-Based Ethical Development Interventions (MBED) are proposed as a non-sectarian approach to training ethical behaviors in the scientific community. The paper calls for meta-scientific initiatives that prioritize developing undeveloped ethical virtues among scientists.