A Primer on Ethics in Mathematics
Abstract
This is a course about Ethics in Mathematics. That is, about the ethical issues that arise in mathematics itself, in mathematical work, and in the actions of mathematicians, broadly interpreted to cover all mathematically-powered technologies. This is a novel course. Traditionally, ethics has seldom been considered by, let alone taught within, the mathematics discipline. This course seeks to change that, by bringing to light the specific ethical issues relevant to mathematics, in a way that is clear and understandable to mathematicians. This course is written by mathematicians, for mathematicians, and about mathematicians. It presents new and original material, in the form of case studies covering harmful and unethical behaviour, analysis of the causal chain of events leading to such harm, and examination of the surrounding processes that drive such actions. All this is fully cited, and supported with interactive activities to aid learning. It develops much of the foundational theory of ethics in mathematics: what can go wrong, why it goes wrong, and how to address it. Students and practitioners alike take away an understanding of the context of their mathematical work, and how to change their actions to ensure more appropriate and useful outputs. In contrast to more traditional philosophy teaching, this course does not delve into the depths of ethical theory. Rather, it presents a practical, hands-on, pragmatic approach to ethics in mathematics, treating it as a branch of applied ethics. It uncovers the very particular ethical issues that arise from mathematical technologies, as well as show how general principles from ethics and responsible development apply even to mathematical work. As such, this makes it highly relevant to adjacent areas such as computer science, physics, engineering, and any other numerate discipline.
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BibTeX
@misc{chiodo2026primer,
title = {{A Primer on Ethics in Mathematics}},
author = {Maurice Chiodo},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.08209},
eprint = {2610.08209},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.08209},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A Primer on Ethics in Mathematics
AU - Maurice Chiodo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.08209
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.08209
AB - This is a course about Ethics in Mathematics. That is, about the ethical issues that arise in mathematics itself, in mathematical work, and in the actions of mathematicians, broadly interpreted to cover all mathematically-powered technologies. This is a novel course. Traditionally, ethics has seldom been considered by, let alone taught within, the mathematics discipline. This course seeks to change that, by bringing to light the specific ethical issues relevant to mathematics, in a way that is clear and understandable to mathematicians. This course is written by mathematicians, for mathematicians, and about mathematicians. It presents new and original material, in the form of case studies covering harmful and unethical behaviour, analysis of the causal chain of events leading to such harm, and examination of the surrounding processes that drive such actions. All this is fully cited, and supported with interactive activities to aid learning. It develops much of the foundational theory of ethics in mathematics: what can go wrong, why it goes wrong, and how to address it. Students and practitioners alike take away an understanding of the context of their mathematical work, and how to change their actions to ensure more appropriate and useful outputs. In contrast to more traditional philosophy teaching, this course does not delve into the depths of ethical theory. Rather, it presents a practical, hands-on, pragmatic approach to ethics in mathematics, treating it as a branch of applied ethics. It uncovers the very particular ethical issues that arise from mathematical technologies, as well as show how general principles from ethics and responsible development apply even to mathematical work. As such, this makes it highly relevant to adjacent areas such as computer science, physics, engineering, and any other numerate discipline.
ER -