From ethics of restriction to ethics of construction: ELSA research in Norway

Current trends in ELSA policies are marked by keywords like collaboration, integration and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). This article analyzes how these trends have manifested themselves in Norway with the aim to find ways to understand and respond adequately to these policy developments. Recent criticisms of ELSA strategies accompanied by arguments for a turn towards ‘post-ELSI’ research approaches hold that ELSA research was designed to maintain a sharp unproductive normative division of labor between natural scientists on the one hand and ELSA researchers on the other hand. ELSA strategies consequently have to be overcome and restructured towards collaboration, integration and RRI. Our account of the Norwegian ELSA history does not support this simple analysis of the ‘modernist’ character of early ELSA strategies. We present and analyze a shift as it took place in two successive ELSA programs in the Research Council of Norway, and argue that ELSA policies that rest only on post-ELSI analyses, risk reinventing the wheel of collaboration. By insisting on the creation of novel designing strategies, one disregards important lessons from the early phases of ELSA research, and even more importantly, fails to recognize that an ethics of construction implies different challenges for different groups of ELSA researchers.

Appreciation through use: How industrial technology articulates an ecology of values around Norwegian seaweed

This paper offers a moral history of the industrialisation of seaweed harvesting in Norway. Industrialisation is often seen as degrading natural resources. Ironically, we argue, it is precisely the scale and scope of industrial utilisation that may enable non-instrumental valuations of natural resources. We use the history of the Norwegian seaweed industry to make this point. Seaweed became increasingly interesting to harvest as a fruit and then as a crop of the sea in the early twentieth century following biochemical applications for alginates derived from seaweed. When harvesting was mechanised, however, attention turned to the environmental and aesthetic value of kelp forests. Further, the sale of the industry to the American FMC corporation flagged the national value of these plants. In sum epistemic, aesthetic and moral appreciations of natural resources are tangled up and co-evolve with their industrial utilisation, in an ecology of values. Our account uses interview and ethnographic material from key sites in Norway

From ethics of restriction to ethics of construction: ELSA research in Norway

Current trends in ELSA policies are marked by keywords like collaboration, integration and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). This article analyzes how these trends have manifested themselves in Norway with the aim to find ways to understand and respond adequately to these policy developments. Recent criticisms of ELSA strategies accompanied by arguments for a turn towards ‘post-ELSI’ research approaches hold that ELSA research was designed to maintain a sharp unproductive normative division of labor between natural scientists on the one hand and ELSA researchers on the other hand. ELSA strategies consequently have to be overcome and restructured towards collaboration, integration and RRI. Our account of the Norwegian ELSA history does not support this simple analysis of the ‘modernist’ character of early ELSA strategies. We present and analyze a shift as it took place in two successive ELSA programs in the Research Council of Norway, and argue that ELSA policies that rest only on post-ELSI analyses, risk reinventing the wheel of collaboration. By insisting on the creation of novel designing strategies, one disregards important lessons from the early phases of ELSA research, and even more importantly, fails to recognize that an ethics of construction implies different challenges for different groups of ELSA researchers

We have never been ELSI researchers – there is no need for a post-ELSI shift

This article criticizes recent suggestions that the current ELSI research field should accommodate a new direction towards a ‘post-ELSI’ agenda. Post-ELSI research seeks to avoid the modernist division of responsibility for technical and social issues said to characterize ELSI research. Collaboration and integration are consequently the key terms of post-ELSI strategies that are to distinguish it from ELSI strategies. We argue that this call for a new direction relies on an inadequate generalized analysis of ELSI research as modern that will affect the construal of post-ELSI strategies. We are concerned that the call for post-ELSI shift will exclude imaginative proposals and intellectual freedom by narrowing down the scope and methodologies of ELSI and thereby missing opportunities to play a critical and constructive normative role. Instead of framing current trends in ELSI research as a radical and progressive shift from ELSI to post-ELSI, we suggest an alternative story of expansion and diversification described in terms of a drift from ELSA 1 to ELSA 2, pertaining to acronyms in use in Europe. ELSI research has never been modern. It has been experimenting from the very start on ways to mesh the works of humanist, social and natural scientist in order to bridge and build alignments of emerging scientific and societal goals and matters of concern. The development from ELSA 1 to ELSA 2 expands in our account the range of intellectual and methodological capacities of analysis and engagement of complex and dynamic science-society relationships. We present three areas of ELSA expertise to illustrate that the expertise within the field builds on scholarly achievements within the humanities, social sciences as well as the natural sciences. The plurality of disciplinary background of ELSA researchers represents a valuable diversity that enables mutual criticism and formulations of complementary approaches that together constitute a viable ELSA field

Think Global, Buy National: CSR, Cooperatives and Consumer Concerns in the Norwegian Food Value Chain

In a world where issues of food safety and food security are increasingly important, the social responsibility of central actors in the food chain—producers and the main grocery chains—becomes more pressing. As a response, these actors move from implicitly assuming social responsibilities implied in laws, regulations and ethical customs, towards explicitly expressing social responsibilities. In this paper, we discuss the ethical values relevant for the social responsibility of central food producers and retailers in Norway, one of the most subsidized and protected areas of food production in the world. How do the actors perceive and express their social responsibility, and—given their position in the local, national and global market—how should they handle these responsibilities? We analyze Tine and Nortura, two producers owned by farmer cooperatives with market regulator function, as well as Coop—a dominant grocery chain in Norway, with basis in the same public ownership model as the farmer-owned cooperative producers. While the complex roles of these key actors in the Norwegian food market have been criticized from several angles, we argue that these multifaceted roles put them in a good position to promote informed consumer choices in a globalized market

The ethics of access to patented biotech research tools from universities and other research institutions

As universities and public research organizations increasingly partner with industry to fulfill their 'third mission' of innovation activities for economic and societal benefit, they have ethical obligations to ensure access to patented research tools, especially CRISPR–Cas9 technology

Acceptable attitudes and the limits of tolerance: Understanding public attitudes to conscientious objection in healthcare

Background The public’s attitudes to conscientious objection (CO) are likely to influence political decisions about CO and trust towards healthcare systems and providers. Few studies examine the public’s attitudes in an in-depth way. Methods Six hypotheses about public attitudes to CO were devised and a questionnaire designed in order to test them. A total of 1617 Norwegian citizens completed the online questionnaire. Results Support for toleration of CO was strongest in the case of ritual circumcision of infant boys, lower for assisted dying and abortion. Attitudes to the procedure itself negatively predicted attitudes to CO for the procedure. Respondents were more accepting of CO to performing abortion than of CO to referrals for abortion. There was stronger support for CO as an outcome of local pragmatic arrangements than for CO as a statutory right. Conclusions Instead of viewing CO as a ‘moral safety valve’ or minority right which is due also to those with whom we disagree strongly, a portion of the public approaches the issue from the angle of what moral attitudes they deem acceptable to hold. The gap between this approach on the one hand and human rights principles on the other is likely to give rise to tensions in political processes whenever policies for CO are negotiated

Acceptable attitudes and the limits of tolerance: Understanding public attitudes to conscientious objection in healthcare

Background The public’s attitudes to conscientious objection (CO) are likely to influence political decisions about CO and trust towards healthcare systems and providers. Few studies examine the public’s attitudes in an in-depth way. Methods Six hypotheses about public attitudes to CO were devised and a questionnaire designed in order to test them. A total of 1617 Norwegian citizens completed the online questionnaire. Results Support for toleration of CO was strongest in the case of ritual circumcision of infant boys, lower for assisted dying and abortion. Attitudes to the procedure itself negatively predicted attitudes to CO for the procedure. Respondents were more accepting of CO to performing abortion than of CO to referrals for abortion. There was stronger support for CO as an outcome of local pragmatic arrangements than for CO as a statutory right. Conclusions Instead of viewing CO as a ‘moral safety valve’ or minority right which is due also to those with whom we disagree strongly, a portion of the public approaches the issue from the angle of what moral attitudes they deem acceptable to hold. The gap between this approach on the one hand and human rights principles on the other is likely to give rise to tensions in political processes whenever policies for CO are negotiated

A novel governance framework for GMO : a tiered, more flexible regulation for GMOs would help to stimulate innovation and public debate

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