Almost half a century ago a strong controversy opposed the philosophers advocating an unrestricted freedom of science to those advocating a moral and legal regulation of science, that dispute did not produce significant results because it rested on a lack of distinction (that does not mean separation) between science and technology. The defining aim of science is acquisition of knowledge and that of technology is production of objects and performances. Humans have always developed a large display of techniques for the realization of different activities and technology can be defined as that special sector of technique that consists in the application of scientific knowledge. With reference to this clarification it is possible to see that pure science enjoys a substantial freedom, being ethically limited only in the case of particular means, conditions and consequences directly involved in experimental science. Applied science must be ethically evaluated also considering the goals of the application envisaged. In the case of technology ethical evaluations are much more pertinent and articulated because actions are involved and regulations are legitimate as far as they concern limitations of the freedom of action; they also can entail legal regulations. The concrete example of Medicine, that is a special technology according to the above definition, concludes the paper and it is shown that due to the fact that Medicine has to do with human persons, it is not sufficient to take into consideration its technical aspects but several other values of psychological, social and spiritual kind must contribute to the global assessment of the medical praxis in the different concrete situations.

中文翻译：

---

科学技术中的自由与监管

大约半个世纪前，一场激烈的争论反对哲学家提倡不受限制的科学自由，反对那些提倡对科学进行道德和法律规定的人，这场争论没有产生重大结果，因为它建立在缺乏区别（这并不意味着分离）之上在科学和技术之间。科学的定义目标是获取知识，技术的定义目标是生产物体和表演。人类一直在开发大量的技术来实现不同的活动，技术可以定义为应用科学知识的特殊技术部门。参考这一澄清，可以看到纯科学享有实质性的自由，仅在特定手段的情况下在伦理上受到限制，直接涉及实验科学的条件和后果。应用科学必须在伦理上进行评估，同时还要考虑到所设想的应用目标。在技​​术方面，伦理评估更加中肯和清晰，因为涉及到行动，并且监管就行动自由的限制而言是合法的；它们还可能涉及法律法规。医学的具体例子，即根据上述定义的特殊技术，对论文进行了总结，表明由于医学与人有关，仅考虑其技术方面是不够的。心理、社会和精神方面的其他几种价值观必须有助于对不同具体情况下的医疗实践进行全球评估。