Between scientists and public: reframing public participation in science through bioethics

Abstract

Discourses and techniques about the relationship between science and the public have remarkably developed in the past four decades. Science communication has become an important issue for the scientific governance. Public confidence in science, decision-making and support to democracy have changed the predominance of a top-down communication model, from scientists to public, to a more participative one – the Public Engagement with Science (PES). The Institute of Bioethics at Portuguese Catholic University, in Oporto, is doing research in the role of science in society issues and the aim of this paper is to discuss the relevance of Bioethics to improve PES. The bioethical issues seem to draw people‟s attention to certain scientific facts, confronting them with the consequences of science and improving their skills in deliberating on scientific issues. Moreover, ethics influences the way one understands public engagement, „scientific citizenship‟ or „science governance‟. The role of ethics is not to re-edit the old fashionable deficit perspective which usually focuses on the impact of science and technology from the perspective of non-experts. Ethics is a theoretical and practical reference for changing the science-making in the near future, and it makes us consider the public as playing a more important role than that of mere spectators with lack of scientific knowledge or with emotional concerns. The ethical reflection could redefine the non-experts place in the context of science, involving people with science, making them not simply aware of scientific issues but also involved in the process of decision-making. On the other hand, bioethics can also contribute to the participation of scientists in the ethical reflection that takes place outside the labs, broadening their role as citizen scientists.

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