The constitutional right to freedom of scientific creativity: content, restrictions, regulation problems

Background. The right to freedom of scientific creativity is provided for by international acts on human rights, as well as constitutions of many countries of the world. At the same time, the emerging close dependence of mankind on technological progress is increasingly actualizing the problems of possible restrictions on this freedom. In foreign law, a special approach has been formed that involves an ethical assessment of the potential consequences of possible discoveries. On its basis, the limitations of scientific activity are formulated. This also led to the emergence of a new term – creative activity, sensitive to values – “Value sensitive design (VSD)”, denoting the concept of an ethical approach in engineering and technological innovation. The purpose of the work is to carry out a systematic analysis of the content of the right to freedom of scientific creativity, to systematize the grounds for restricting this freedom, to identify the main problems of legal regulation of creative activity. Materials and methods. The research problems were solved thanks to the scientific analysis of a wide range of sources devoted to the right to freedom of scientific creativity. As a research method, the comparative legal method was used, which made it possible to identify foreign models of regulation of the stated problems. Results. The general conclusion about the possibility of limiting the freedom of scientific creativity, which is not an absolute human right, is presented. Modern legislation establishes some prohibitions on the fields of scientific activity. This practice is expanding to individual technologies that have an aggressive effect on human nature. Conclusions. The article identifies the prospects for such regulation models as risk management of new technologies and scientific creativity based on common human values. In each case, requirements are put forward for predicting the consequences of the discovery, minimizing possible negative consequences. This leads to the introduction of special rules in certain branches of legislation