Deep uncertainties in bioethics: genetic research, preventive medicine, reproductive decisions

Informations projet

BIOUNCERTAINTY

N° de convention de subvention: 805498

DOI

10.3030/805498

Date de signature de la CE 29 Octobre 2018

Date de début 1 Février 2019

Date de fin 31 Octobre 2026

Financé au titre de

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Coût total

€ 1 499 625,00

Contribution de l’UE

€ 1 499 625,00

Coordonné par

UNIWERSYTET JAGIELLONSKI
Poland

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - BIOUNCERTAINTY (Deep uncertainties in bioethics: genetic research, preventive medicine, reproductive decisions)

Période du rapport: 2023-08-01 au 2025-01-31

Résumé du contexte et des objectifs généraux du projet

Uncertainty is everywhere, as the saying goes, but rarely considered in ethical reflections. This project aims to reinterpret ethical discussions on current advances in biomedicine: instead of understanding bioethical positions as extensions of classical normative views in ethics (consequentialism, deontologism, contractualism etc.), my project interprets them more accurately as involving various normative approaches to decision making under uncertainty. The following hard cases in bioethics provide the motivation for research:

1) Regulating scientific research under uncertainty about the ontological/moral status (e.g. parthenogenetic stem cells derived from human parthenotes) in the context of meta-reasoning under normative uncertainty.

2) The value of preventive medicine in healthcare (e.g. vaccinations) in the context of decision-making under metaphysical indeterminacy.

3) Population or reproductive decisions (e.g. preimplantation genetic diagnosis) in the context of valuing mere existence.

The main drive behind this project is the rapid progress in biomedical research combined with new kinds of uncertainties. These new and “deep” uncertainties trigger specific forms of emotions and cognitions that influence normative judgments and decisions.

Travail effectué depuis le début du projet jusqu’à la fin de la période considérée dans le rapport et principaux résultats atteints jusqu’à présent

The main research topics: normative uncertainty in bioethics; biases and heuristics in ethics and law; conceptual uncertainty; evidential pluralism in biomedicine; personal identity & death, the normative significance of empirical moral psychology; the ethics of categorization and preventive medicine; disagreement and opinion aggregation; consequentialism and the plurality of chances; populism in health care policy.

Progrès au-delà de l’état des connaissances et impact potentiel prévu (y compris l’impact socio-économique et les conséquences sociétales plus larges du projet jusqu’à présent)

The main research questions are addressed by conceptual analysis, new psychological experiments, legal case studies, and topic modeling are the following: how do the heuristics and biases (H&B) documented by behavioral scientists influence the formation of normative judgments in bioethical contexts; how to demarcate between distorted and undistorted value judgments; to what extent is it permissible for individuals or policy makers to yield to H&B. The hypothesis is that many existing bioethical rules, regulations, practices seem to have emerged from unreliable reactions, rather than by means of deliberation on the possible justifications for alternative ways to decide about them under several layers and types of uncertainty.

Interdisciplinary Centre for Ethics