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Public Understanding of Science
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Article

Public bioethics and public engagement: the politics of "proper talk"

Alfred Moore*

AlfredMoore is a lecturer in political theory at University College Cork, Ireland

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.


  Abstract

This article uses notions of "public talk" and "regulation as facilitation" to develop an account of public bioethics in the UK as a form of scientific governance, drawing on document analysis and expert interviews. First, this article will show the "ethical" problematization of scientific governance in the UK through the emergence of the Human Genetics Commission (HGC), Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCB), and Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). Second, it will argue that an "ethical" model has emerged alongside and partially displaced a "technical" model of expertise in scientific governance. The article will introduce the notion of "proper talk," a set of techniques for facilitating ethical debate, characterized by the active elicitation of public engagement and the inclusion of emotions and subjectivity. The article then questions whether the authority to categorize publics and identify "proper" ethical positions reintroduces problems of expertise in a new form.

Key Words: bioethics, genetic and reproductive technologies, governance of science and technology, interaction experts/publics, public consultations

First published on February 16, 2009
Public Understanding of Science 2009, doi:10.1177/0963662508096781
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