Creating the 'ethics industry': Mary Warnock, in vitro fertilization and the history of bioethics in Britain.

BioSocieties
Duncan Wilson

Abstract

Recent decades have seen a shift in the management and discussion of biomedicine. Issues once considered by doctors and scientists are now handled by a diverse array of participants, including philosophers, lawyers, theologians and lay representatives. This new approach, known as 'bioethics', has become the norm in regulatory committees and public debate. In this article, I argue that bioethics emerged as a valued enterprise in Britain during the 1980s because it fulfilled, and linked, the concerns of several groups. My analysis centres on the moral philosopher Mary Warnock, who chaired a government inquiry into human fertilization and embryology between 1982 and 1984, and became a strong advocate of bioethics. I detail how Warnock's promotion of bioethics tallied with the Conservative government's desire for increased surveillance of hitherto autonomous professions - while fulfilling her own belief that philosophers should engage in public affairs. And I also show that Warnock simultaneously promoted bioethics to doctors and scientists as an essential safeguard against declining political and public trust. This stance, I argue, framed bioethics as a vital intermediary between politics, the public, and biomedicine, and explains...Continue Reading

References

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Citations

Jul 26, 2012·Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics : CQ : the International Journal of Healthcare Ethics Committees·Christoph Rehmann-SutterJackie Leach Scully
Dec 18, 2014·Journal of Medical Ethics·Sarah Chan
Jun 1, 2017·BMC Medical Ethics·Giulia Cavaliere
Mar 30, 2020·Journal of Medical Ethics·Silvia Camporesi, Giulia Cavaliere
Aug 28, 2018·Current Stem Cell Reports·Sarah Chan
May 26, 2017·The Hastings Center Report·Sarah Chan

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