To introduce a Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking perspective on science, technology, and ethics is difficult and somewhat artificial. From the beginning it must be acknowledged that Spain and Portugal on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe together with the more than twenty Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries that can be identified in the Americas compose a heterogeneous group. In many respects differences outweigh similarities. Nevertheless, the differences are perhaps no greater than those present in other large-scale linguistic or cultural perspectives such as are represented by Africa, China, or India. Provided that this introduction is not taken as a substitute for more particular assessments of the situations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Venezuela (to mention only a dozen of the most populous countries), it may serve to highlight some modest commonalities that do in fact exist.

Context

Understanding relations between science...