Toward a Better Bioethics

Abstract

It has been argued that bioethicists too often tend to represent the interests of scientists and not of the broader polity. Indeed, bioethicists seem predisposed to discard the voices and viewpoints of all but the cognoscenti. Focusing particularly on human pluripotent stem cell research, this commentary explores a variety of characterizations of bioethics and bioethicists in relation to forbidding science. Rather than proselytizing or prohibiting, bioethicists should work in partnership with scientists and publics to craft scientifically well-informed and morally sophisticated debates about forbidding science.

Editors’ Overview: Forbidding Science?

“…But like the scientists, these professionals, too, have limits in their capacity to effectively participate in deliberations about the conduct of and restriction of scientific research. As Jason Robert eloquently suggests, too many experts in these fields are willfully ignorant of the methods, challenges, goals and norms of the scientific enterprise (Robert 2009). Emboldened by the occasional naiveté or ineffectiveness of scientists on policy questions, bioethicists and legal experts often assume a self-nominated role of ''moral police'' or ''moral firefighter'' (Robert 2009).…”