The Narratology of Lay Ethics

Abstract

The five narratives identified by the DEEPEN-project are interpreted in terms of the ancient story of desire, evil, and the sacred, and the modern narratives of alienation and exploitation. The first three narratives of lay ethics do not take stock of what has radically changed in the modern world under the triple and joint evolution of science, religion, and philosophy. The modern narratives, in turn, are in serious need of a post-modern deconstruction. Both critiques express the limits of humanism. They do not imply, however, that these narratives should not be taken seriously. In particular, the enduring presence of three ancient narratives in laypeople's symbolic thought is highly significant in terms of the role that the logic of the sacred keeps playing in the workings of modern societies. Lay people's implicit understanding of how modern technology tends towards catastrophe and apocalypse provides the strongest argument for taking these narratives seriously.Literature is a game with tacit conventions. To violate them partially or totally is one of the many joys (one of the many obligations) of the game, whose limits are unknown. Jorge Luis Borges [quoted in [13], 36]The Philosophy of Lay Ethics Ethics and NarratologyWhen the DEEPEN project casts "lay ethics" in the form of narratives, this is a profound suggestion and an important finding. For the so-called armchairphilosopher who is writing these lines, this means that the spontaneous normative assessment of nanotechnology by lay people belongs to neither of the two sets of moral doctrines that vie for supremacy in contemporary academic moral philosophy. Neither consequentialism nor deontology are amenable to narrative forms. Deontology rests on a purely formal exercise which becomes especially apparent with the Kantian categorical imperative that consists in verifying that the maxim of my action can be universalized without internal contradiction. Consequentialism does not take a narrative form either since it is only interested in the maximization of the good independently of chronology, that is, of the order of succession of the partial goods that constitute an individual life or a collective history.

Researching Technoscientific Concerns in the Making: Narrative Structures, Public Responses, and Emerging Nanotechnologies

“…Following Popper's observation that all science rests on a 'metaphysical research program', a set of presuppositions about the structure of the world which are neither testable nor 'falsifiable' empirically, but which nonetheless play an essential role in the progress of science, analysts have begun to examine the metaphysical assumptions, tacit or otherwise, that tend to underpin national and international programmes of nanotechnology and related initiatives (see Dupuy, 2005). have analysed a set of 'programmatic imaginaries' that operate as meta-level discourses and that drive the development of the technology, including the foundational conviction that nanotechnology represents a new paradigm of scientific endeavour based on its ability to control and manipulate matter at atomic and molecular scales.…”

The old-new meaning of the researcher’s responsibility

“…Under some circumstances, getting exactly what one wants may lead one to unforeseen disasters and catastrophes. These circumstances exist when what may potentially be wished for is itself boundless, like the never-ending technological progress [8]. This moral conundrum is not unknown in history.…”

“…The second pillar is the importance of stories for ethical thinking. Several recent publications insist on their relevance, both practically observed and theoretically motivated, for understanding public perception of new technologies [6,8,12,13]. Ancient and modern narratives become part and parcel of the social reading of technology, making it impossible to tackle ethical questions without an evocation of mythological personifications of various technical feats and the ensuing moral punishment, e.g., Prometheus, Daedalus, or Pandora.…”

Integration needs in assessments of nanotechnology in food and agriculture

“…Some interpret narratives as 'lay ethics' and this approach was taken in the European Deepen project (Deepening Ethical Engagement and Participation in Emerging Nanotechnologies) (Nordmann & Macnaghten 2012;Dupuy 2010). Explicating narratives may be a matter of integration as it may serve to better identify sources of conflicts and thereby address these in a more comprehensive manner.…”