Precautionary Principle Pluralism And Deliberation

This volume tackles the burden of judgment and the challenges of ethical disagreements, organizes the cohabitation of scientific and ethical argumentations in such a way they find their appropriate place in the political decision. It imagines several forms of agreements and open ways of conflicts resolution very different compared with ones of the majority of political philosophers and political scientists that are macro-social and general. It offers an original contribution to a scrutinized interpretation of the precautionary principle, as structuring the decision in interdisciplinary contexts, to make sure to arrive this time to the “Best of the Worlds”.

This volume tackles the burden of judgment and the challenges of ethical disagreements, organizes the cohabitation of scientific and ethical argumentations in such a way they find their appropriate place in the political decision. It imagines several forms of agreements and open ways of conflicts resolution very different compared with ones of the majority of political philosophers and political scientists that are macro-social and general. It offers an original contribution to a scrutinized interpretation of the precautionary principle, as structuring the decision in interdisciplinary contexts, to make sure to arrive this time to the “Best of the Worlds”.

Communication is a crucial issue in our complex societies tinted by distrust. It is the core of democratic life and almost all human and social actions. Therefore it is essential for communication to be responsible. But responsible communication cannot only be conceived as a deontological issue, framed by ethical compliance requirements or good practices promotion. It should be considered with all the virtualities of communication, from conversation to consideration, going through narrative, interpretation and argumentation. Indeed each of these communicational capacities has its properties, assets, complementarities and limitations. They constitute different ways to be responsive. This book offers a contribution to the debate of Theory of Deliberative Theory (TDD), reexamined here within its different inspiration sources, notably the opposition between communicational turn and system, the fact of moral pluralism and the public reason.

Responsible Research and Innovation provides a comprehensive and impartial overview of the European Commission’s Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) framework, including discussion of both the meaning and aims of the concept, and of its practical application. As a governance framework for research and innovation, RRI involves four key perspectives: ethical, economic/business, legal and governance and political. The book is organised into chapters covering these different dimensions. The authors provide different viewpoints on these aspects, in order to offer guidance from experts in the field, while at the same time acknowledging the interpretative openness of the RRI frameworks.

Taking stock of the overall confused picture that research and innovation (R&I) literature and practices offer with regard to citizen and stakeholder participation, this book provides a methodical conceptual and an empirical analysis to determine the connection between ethics and participation. Strong theoretical pillars in the fields of ethics, politics and responsible research and innovation (RRI) form the backbone of this critical approach to participation, which considers new approaches to democratic participation. Taking into account a number of participatory processes, Responsive Ethics and Participation establishes a new methodology to differentiate, classify and understand the added value of the participation of citizens and stakeholders in R&I. Participation could be considered the epitome of innovation ethics. However, its multidimensionality, its ethical and theoretical grounds and the nature of the involvement and related outcomes must be clarified at the outset, in order to reach active forms of participation. Ethical participation is required for reliable developments in science and technology, which is what this book ultimately demonstrates.

The governance theories that have developed over the past twenty years offer a new framework to consider and examine the collective conditions of a "Responsible Research and Innovation – RRI" linked up with the policy challenges of a society in transition in all its modes of regulation. This book will recall the genesis of the reflexive point of view in the context of the development of the theory of governance. It will then develop the strengths of the model and finally, will show the fruitfulness of its application to the field of the RRI.

This book demonstrates the federative power of the methodology of the sciences of culture by exploiting its critical, historical, and comparative principles to address both cultural objects and disciplines that report on them. Scientific activity is rethought in its dimension of interpretative act responsible for both the human and the non-human. This book fills a gap by reconnecting in an innovative and original way the scientific, artistic and ethico-political spheres.

Technological advance affects almost all areas of human life. Rapid digitization, increased mobility, new biotechnologies, and nanotechnology deeply influence, amongst others, industrial production, entertainment, work, military affairs, and individual life. Besides overwhelmingly positive effects on wealth, comfort, innovation, and development, this also raises questions of unintended effects, of tensions with democracy, of the role of citizens, and of its sustainability facing environmental issues. Tools and procedures are needed to cope with this challenging situation. Technology assessment (TA) has been developed more than fifty years ago to enable science, the economy, and society to harvest the potential of new technology to the maximum extent possible and to deal responsibly with possible adverse effects. It was developed more than 50 years ago in the U.S. Congress and has diversified considerably in the meantime. Parliamentary TA in many European states and at the international level, participatory TA at the local and regional levels worldwide, and TA as part of engineering processes are the most relevant fields today. Technology assessment is a growing field of interdisciplinary research and scientific policy advice. This volume (a) gives an overview of motivations of TA, its history and its current practices, (b) develops a fresh theoretical perspective on TA rooted in social theory and philosophy, and (c) draws conclusions from the theoretical perspective for the further development of TA’s practices. It provides the first comprehensive view on the growing field of TA at the international level.