Science with conscience: researcher's responsibility to society

The social responsibility of the researcher has been a recurring topic of debate in the 20th century and the beginning of the current one, since Science and technology have given man innumerable successes that improve his life; at the same time they show their dark side by placing humanity before the possibility of a world conflagration. On the other hand, it is expected that the researcher, from the humblest sphere to the highest, be an honest person and put their discoveries at the service of society. We will mention in a general way some cases cited by Agin (2008), Morin's (1984) perspective on the need for a science with conscience, assimilating all this to a decolonizing approach. We also seek to demystify scientific endeavor so that it is seen as just another development in the history of mankind but in no way as a panacea that can solve all our existential problems, let alone give meaning and flavor to our lives. We used the Critical Thinking method, a category of the Social Sciences, adopted by the center of Free Thought, in Colombia. We took various authors who refer to the responsibility of the researcher from the social ethical plane, such as Zapata and Acevedo (2003), Morín (1984), among others. All this within the framework of the idea of the decolonization of knowledge. We conclude that science is a power desired by politics and economics to serve monetary interests; it is no longer that solitary activity, marked by the beauty of theoretical constructions.