We draw four lessons from Mary Allen's story.

1. Every researcher must be an active member of a scholarly community.

2. Even the healthiest research community can fail quickly so it is in each member's self-interest to know the rules of responsible research conduct.

3. Knowing the rules, however, does not guarantee responsible conduct because individual researchers will inevitably face situations for which they do not know the rule or cannot learn the rule in time to act on it. Even more dangerous, there are and always will be many situations for which there is no rule.

4. To think of research ethics as "training" in knowing and following rules is an incorrect understanding of both research and ethics.

Research is by its very nature the attitude of critical inquiry. As researchers, we adopt skeptical perspectives on claims. When thinking about right and wrong behaviors, we must be no less critical of suspect normative claims in ethics than we are of suspect empirical claims in science.

Exemplary ethical behavior is excellence in word and deed. By its very nature, ethical behavior is the capacity to behave the way the most highly respected members of the community behave, and to eschew the behaviors of those who cut corners. We have more to learn from the leading people in our fields, therefore, than we do from all of the compilations of rules and regulations.

If we take these four lessons to heart, we will be as well prepared as possible to deal with the temptations that inevitably await us. Avoiding the traps is important not only for egoistic reasons, not only to safeguard our reputations. It is important as well to protect those people about whom we care. The satisfaction of my own best interests seems to require me to help others satisfy their best interests. It is impossible for me to obtain the Ph.D., for example, without the assistance of my friends, family, and professional colleagues.

Thinking about my interests inevitably leads me to think about our interests.