Emerging biotechnologies: full report - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Emerging biotechnologies: full report - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Emerging biotechnologies: full report - Nuffield Council on Bioethics
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E m e r g i n g b i o t e c h n o l o g i e s<br />
for interested parties to know that such a determinati<strong>on</strong> is to be made, who is charged with<br />
making it and how they may make representati<strong>on</strong>s, including higher representati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
c<strong>on</strong>cerning the nature of process or the competence or c<strong>on</strong>duct of those resp<strong>on</strong>sible. (Public<br />
determinati<strong>on</strong>s in this sense are c<strong>on</strong>trasted with decisi<strong>on</strong>s made by an<strong>on</strong>ymous and<br />
unaccountable powers behind closed doors.)<br />
■<br />
N<strong>on</strong>-partiality means that determinati<strong>on</strong>s in which there is a public interest should not be made<br />
in accordance with a c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>al or private good but should be orientated by promoti<strong>on</strong> of the<br />
public good and therefore strive to determine the nature of the public good in relati<strong>on</strong> to the<br />
determinati<strong>on</strong> to be made. Public determinati<strong>on</strong>s in this sense are c<strong>on</strong>trasted with<br />
subordinating public decisi<strong>on</strong> making (deliberately or inadvertently) to the pursuit of private or<br />
secti<strong>on</strong>al interests. So, if prop<strong>on</strong>ents of a given biotechnology build their arguments for why it<br />
should be supported and facilitated <strong>on</strong> claims that it will have public benefits, then c<strong>on</strong>sistency<br />
entails that public interests should be taken properly into account in decisi<strong>on</strong> making about the<br />
technology. It is not necessary that those involved should be free from all pers<strong>on</strong>al interest in<br />
the decisi<strong>on</strong> but this must be subordinated to and subsumed within the public good. 288<br />
Procedural virtues<br />
4.43 We set out below a number of virtues that are intended to foster a public discourse ethics in<br />
practice, addressing the problems of privacy and partiality. We are not here primarily talking<br />
about virtues attaching to individual people involved in governance, but instituti<strong>on</strong>al and<br />
procedural virtues that c<strong>on</strong>cern the way in which policy is developed and governance<br />
c<strong>on</strong>ducted. Our reas<strong>on</strong>s for setting out virtues in this way are twofold.<br />
4.44 Firstly, the uncertainty and ambiguity that characterise emerging <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g> make the use<br />
of criteria or decisi<strong>on</strong> rules to guide acti<strong>on</strong>s difficult, since it is not possible to anticipate what<br />
kinds of acti<strong>on</strong>s might satisfy such rules or criteria. On the c<strong>on</strong>trary, it is precisely the<br />
frameworks of rules, and the c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s of their applicati<strong>on</strong>, that are in questi<strong>on</strong> here. Rather<br />
than c<strong>on</strong>crete prescripti<strong>on</strong>s, for emerging <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g> we must therefore look to how the<br />
business of policy making and governance is carried out, rather than its substantive c<strong>on</strong>tent.<br />
4.45 The sec<strong>on</strong>d reas<strong>on</strong> is that the diversity of emerging <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g> means that our approach<br />
must be developed at a relatively abstract level. The virtues therefore have a broad scope of<br />
applicati<strong>on</strong> such as to enable the development of acti<strong>on</strong>-guiding principles in a variety of<br />
c<strong>on</strong>crete c<strong>on</strong>texts. We have therefore avoided setting out specific principles in favour of ways of<br />
acting that can be cultivated in a wide variety of c<strong>on</strong>texts. It is also important that they are<br />
cultivated by all those engaged in biotechnology policy and governance, rather than merely<br />
followed by those in positi<strong>on</strong>s of authority: a public discourse ethics strives for the establishment<br />
of comm<strong>on</strong> ground through balanced engagement, even if operati<strong>on</strong>alising it may rely <strong>on</strong><br />
authority and power.<br />
Openness and inclusi<strong>on</strong><br />
The virtue of openness and inclusi<strong>on</strong> is the virtue of members of society having the informati<strong>on</strong> and, where<br />
appropriate, access required to participate in biotechnology governance; it embodies respect for the potential<br />
plurality of views <strong>on</strong> how biotechnology choices might be framed.<br />
4.46 The virtue of openness and inclusi<strong>on</strong> reflects the fundamental public interest in <str<strong>on</strong>g>biotechnologies</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
and in their potential to affect, beneficially or detrimentally, the comm<strong>on</strong> c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s of life. The<br />
cultivati<strong>on</strong> of this virtue is intended to offset the potential for dominance by secti<strong>on</strong>al interests<br />
and to draw attenti<strong>on</strong> to any power structures that result in legitimate interests being excluded<br />
(for example, through c<strong>on</strong>trol of publicati<strong>on</strong> media). It does not entail, of course, that members<br />
288 This calls to mind the Enlightenment ideal of the public use of reas<strong>on</strong> (see Kant I (1784) An answer to the questi<strong>on</strong>: ‘what is<br />
Enlightenment?’, in Kant: political writings, Reiss H (Editor) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991)). This, however,<br />
somewhat idealises the human spirit and places too much faith in individuals as rati<strong>on</strong>al seekers of truth. Instead we put our<br />
faith here in open and fairly c<strong>on</strong>ducted discursive engagement to c<strong>on</strong>fr<strong>on</strong>t partiality with its alternatives, in c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s that<br />
mitigate against prejudice regarding the outcome.<br />
68