Biotechnologie: la vie en morceaux et l'éthique en péril

National audienceWith the boom in biotechnology, the living-being-machine, which until now had only been a scientific hypothesis, has become a reality which is establishing itself as a social and moral norm. Following the example of a machine, the living being is said to be a commodity devoid of an end in itself (intrinsic value) and can be reduced to a complex arrangement of spare (and removable) parts with a view to a function, at least commercial. This vision which is compatible with the quest for new economic outlets has no other justification than the value given to science. This authority comes, before any popular support, from the fact that it instituted itself as an order of principle, thus becoming an impregnable citadel. Indeed, modern science bases its autonomy and its power on the refutation of feeling (perception of the subject) whereas it is precisely in feeling that the ethical impulse finds its guiding principles. By adopting an operating objectivity (causal action in experimentation), which today has become its raison d’être in the pursuit of a (technological) good, science has definitively appropriated the natural function of ethics, while, however, renouncing its own function. It is no surprise then that ethics restricts itself to an aesthetic register and that ethical expertise, increasingly modelled on the scientific example, does not attach much importance to intrinsic considerations about biotechnology, and only takes into account the consequential and extrinsic analysis. We also understand why civil society claims “another world”: in spite of the epistemological locks (principles) and the commercial locks, perceptive feeling continues to instruct us and convey to us a perception of the integrity of the living being. This common sense of an existence in itself, coherent and autonomous, matches the most recent cognitive progress on the non-linear properties of biological emergence and self-organisation: indeed, the living being only becomes a machine in a morbid situation. The adoption or not of a living-being-machine culture is not a question for experts, but a stake for civilisation. To take back our identity as living beings requires a vision shared by the exercising of new faculties. In this undertaking, it is art, the third constituent part of cultural life along with science and ethics, that has to educate feeling in its perceptive and cognitive dimension to allow a new connection of values and activities in societyAvec l’essor des biotechnologies, le vivant-machine qui n’était jusqu’alors qu’une hypothèse scientifique devient une réalité qui s’impose comme norme sociale et morale. A l’instar d’une machine, le vivant serait une commodité dénuée de fin en soi (valeur intrinsèque) et réductible à l’agencement complexe de pièces détachées (et détachables) en vue d’une fonction, au moins marchande. Cette vision compatible avec la quête de nouveaux débouchés économiques n’a d’autre justification que la valeur accordée à la science. Cette autorité lui vient, avant toute adhésion populaire, du fait qu’elle s’est elle-même instituée comme un ordre de principe, devenant ainsi une citadelle imprenable. De fait, la science moderne fonde son autonomie et son pouvoir sur la réfutation du sentiment (perception du sujet) alors que c’est justement dans le sentiment que l’impulsion éthique trouve ses principes directeurs. Par son adoption d’une objectivité opératoire (action causale dans l’expérimentation), aujourd’hui devenue sa raison d’être dans la poursuite d’un bien (technologique), la science s’est définitivement approprié la fonction naturelle de l’éthique, en renonçant cependant à sa fonction propre. On ne s’étonnera donc pas que l’éthique se cantonne dans un registre esthétique et que l’expertise éthique, de plus en plus calquée sur le modèle scientifique, fasse peu de cas des considérations intrinsèques sur les biotechnologiques et ne tienne compte que de l’analyse conséquentielle et extrinsèque. On comprend aussi pourquoi la société civile revendique « un autre monde » : en dépit des verrous épistémologiques (principes) et commerciaux, le sentiment perceptif continue de nous instruire et nous transmettre une perception de l’intégrité du vivant. Ce sens commun d’une existence en soi cohérente et autonome recroise les plus récentes avancées cognitives sur les propriétés non-linéaires de l’émergence et l’auto-organisation biologiques : de fait, le vivant ne devient une machine qu’en situation morbide. L’adoption ou non d’une culture du vivant-machine n’est pas une question d’experts, mais un enjeu de civilisation. Resaisir notre identité de vivant requiert une vision partagée par l’exercice de facultés nouvelles. Dans cette entreprise, c’est à l’art, cette troisième composante constitutive de la vie culturelle avec la science et l’éthique, qu’il revient d’éduquer le sentiment dans sa dimension perceptive et cognitive pour permettre une nouvelle articulation des valeurs et des activités dans la société

Le vivant et son énergie. Une exposition-laboratoire pour de nouvelles médiations environnementales

National audienceLa conjugaison de l’art et de l’écologie peut-elle contribuer à de nouveaux cadres de réflexion et de médiation pour le développement durable ? Peut-elle investir le terrain de la recherche et contribuer à interroger les représentations qui sous-tendent l’action environnementale ? Peut-elle permettre de repenser la relation entre vivant et énergie ? Cet ouvrage pose les enjeux d’un renouvellement de l’action de recherche pour répondre à l’urgence écologique en intégrant l’expérience humaine, dans sa dimension vitale et sensible. Au cœur des philosophies et des politiques environnementales, la transition écologique pose un défi en terme de prise de conscience des individus. Elle exige de revisiter des notions fondamentales devenues (ou restées) abstraites du fait de la complexification des dispositifs technologiques de nos sociétés. En première ligne des préoccupations, le vivant et l’énergie demandent à être pensés conjointement pour donner sens à la façon dont nous habitons nos milieux de vie. L’exposition-laboratoire « L e vivant et son énergie » interroge cette relation en faisant appel à l’art environnemental, en immersion avec le milieu vivant d’un centre de recherche. Organisée par l’Inra avec le soutien des Jardins de Gally et la collaboration de l’École des Beaux-arts de Versailles, cette exposition prend place dans le cadre du programme culturel de la ville de Versailles pour l’année Le Nôtre en 2013. Par son insertion dans le territoire francilien et dans l’histoire locale, elle entre en résonance avec les préoccupations d’aménagement local et devient prétexte à la rencontre entre acteurs territoriaux, professionnels, éducatifs et chercheurs. Les dynamiques induites sur le temps court d’une exposition font apparaître le potentiel structurant et méthodologique d’une telle action pour faire émerger de nouvelles questions de recherche et élargir le champ des possibles

Conceptual context of floral repression in Arabidopsis

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Des modalités d’intervention « art-science-philosophique » pour éprouver les temporalités de l’urgence environnementale

The objective here is to show by a philosophical approach how ecological art contributes to re-qualify environmental times. The basic argument is that one cannot separate the philosophical foundation of problems and the true nature of time, the “Duration” defined by Bergson as a pure intensity underlying all differences in nature. Environmental emergency allows the criticism of time conceived as a spatial dimension, a time that is intrinsically non sustainable. By encouraging a new proximity between art and science, ecological art practices create sensitive tensioning of this criticism in the form of heterochronies – « other » times. The analysis of a number of examples leads to identify three modes of aesthetic expression : i) aesthetics of the ephemeral, cyclic and archaic ; ii) aesthetics of the ongoing, evolving and entangled ; iii) aesthetics of the still, dematerialized and upcoming. The wordings of these different aesthetic modes are identified in a case study, the exhibition-laboratory « The living and its energy » conducted at Inra in Versailles in 2013. This experiment shows the relevance of creating new research situations by forging closer ties between artistic induction, scientific reflection and a philosophy engaged in action. The aim of such practices is to address current mutations of relation to time, their expression in a new aesthetics of Duration and their capacity to sustain an ethics of care by intensity relations

Beyond substantial equivalence: ethical equivalence

41 ref.International audienceThe concept of substantial equivalence,introduced for the risk assessment of geneticallymodified (GM) food, is a reducing concept because itignores the context in which these products have beenproduced and brought to the consumer at the end of thefood chain. Food quality cannot be restricted to meresubstance and food acts on human beings not only atthe level of nutrition but also through theirrelationship to environment and society. To make thiscontext explicit, I will introduce an ``equivalencescale'' for the evaluation of food chains (GM or notGM). By contrast with substantial equivalence, whichinvolves mainly quantitative, analytical methods ofevaluation, ``qualitative equivalence'' refers to ``less''or non-substantial factors that require new methodsof evaluation based on qualitative principles.``Ethical equivalence'' refers to factors that show themoral value contained in food products. To analyze thedifferent levels at which ethics is needed in foodchains, I will use the French principles: ``Liberty,Equality, Fraternity,'' or freedom, equality,solidarity, and add a fourth principle:sustainability. Sustainability, solidarity, andfreedom can be applied to the evaluation ofenvironmental, socio-economic, and socio-culturalethical equivalence, respectively. Equality refers tojustice and should operate so as to guarantee thatsustainability, solidarity, and freedom are satisfied.I suggest that ethics can provide a basis for arenewal of the food chain concept. Besides QualityAssurance, it is now essential to develop an ``EthicalAssurance'' and this equivalence scale could provide abasis to set up ``Ethical Assurance Standards'' (EAS) for food chains

Des modalités d’intervention « art-science-philosophique » pour éprouver les temporalités de l’urgence environnementale

L’objectif est ici de montrer par une approche philosophique en quoi l’art écologique contribue à requalifier les temporalités environnementales. L’argument de base est qu’on ne peut séparer le fondement philosophique des problèmes de ce qui fait la véritable nature du temps, la « Durée » définie par Bergson comme une pure intensité à l’origine de toutes les différences de nature. L’urgence environnementale rend possible une critique du temps conçu comme dimension spatiale, un temps qui est intrinsèquement non durable. En favorisant une nouvelle proximité entre l’art et la science, les pratiques d’art écologique créent une mise en tension sensible de cette critique sous forme d’hétérochronies – des temps « autres ». L’analyse d’un ensemble d’exemples conduit à identifier trois registres d’expression esthétique : i) esthétique de l’éphémère, du cyclique et de l’archaïque ; ii) esthétique de l’inachevé, de l’évolutif et de l’enchevêtré ; iii) esthétique de l’immobile, du dématérialisé et du futur à venir. Les énoncés reliés à ces différents registres esthétiques sont inventoriés dans un cas d’école, l’exposition-laboratoire « Le vivant et son énergie » mise en œuvre à l’Inra de Versailles en 2013. Cette expérimentation montre l’intérêt de créer de nouvelles situations de recherche par rapprochement de l’induction artistique, de la réflexion scientifique et d’une philosophie engagée dans l’action. L’enjeu de telles pratiques est d’évaluer les mutations du rapport au temps en train de s’opérer, leur expression dans une nouvelle esthétique de la Durée, et leur capacité à soutenir une éthique du soin par des rapports d’intensité.The objective here is to show by a philosophical approach how ecological art contributes to re-qualify environmental times. The basic argument is that one cannot separate the philosophical foundation of problems and the true nature of time, the “Duration” defined by Bergson as a pure intensity underlying all differences in nature. Environmental emergency allows the criticism of time conceived as a spatial dimension, a time that is intrinsically non sustainable. By encouraging a new proximity between art and science, ecological art practices create sensitive tensioning of this criticism in the form of heterochronies – « other » times. The analysis of a number of examples leads to identify three modes of aesthetic expression : i) aesthetics of the ephemeral, cyclic and archaic ; ii) aesthetics of the ongoing, evolving and entangled ; iii) aesthetics of the still, dematerialized and upcoming. The wordings of these different aesthetic modes are identified in a case study, the exhibition-laboratory « The living and its energy » conducted at Inra in Versailles in 2013. This experiment shows the relevance of creating new research situations by forging closer ties between artistic induction, scientific reflection and a philosophy engaged in action. The aim of such practices is to address current mutations of relation to time, their expression in a new aesthetics of Duration and their capacity to sustain an ethics of care by intensity relations

Place du débat public face aux enjeux éthiques des biotechnologies

Pouteau Sylvie. Place du débat public face aux enjeux éthiques des biotechnologies. In: Économie rurale. N°271, 2002. Questions d'éthique économique et sociale. pp. 92-101

Beyond “second animals”: making sense of plant ethics

Concern for what we do to plants is pivotal for the field of environmental ethics but has scarcely been voiced. This paper examines how plant ethics first emerged from the development of plant science and yet also hit theoretical barriers in that domain. It elaborates on a case study prompted by a legal article on "the dignity of creatures" in the Swiss Constitution. Interestingly, the issue of plant dignity was interpreted as a personification or rather an "animalization of plants." This sense of irony makes sense when one realizes that on scientific grounds the plant is a "second animal," i.e., it differs from the animal in degree of life or some ethically-relevant criterion but not in nature. From the point of view of ethics however, plants should be defended for what they are by nature and not by comparison to external references: the ethical standing of plants cannot be indexed to animals. It is thus reckoned that to circumvent this odd fetishism, the plant ethics can only be adequately addressed by changing the theory of plant science. Common sense tells us this: plants and animals belong to radically different fields of perception and experience, a difference that is commonly captured by the notion of kingdom. In this paper we remind the ethical conversation that plants are actually incommensurable with animals because they are unsplit beings (having neither inside nor outside), i.e., they live as "non-topos" in an undivided, unlimited, non-centered state of being. It is concluded that the unique ontology of plants can only be addressed through a major change from object-thinking to process-thinking and a move from ego-centric to "peri-ego" ethics

Plants as open beings From aesthetics to plant-human ethics

International audienceTo consider non-human entities on ethical grounds, it is crucial to define what makes the distinctive specificity of these entities. In this chapter, I apply a pluralist approach to highlight that in contrast to human beings and animals, plants are open, non-self-centered subjects. I introduce a new realist definition of the plant kingdom by considering the way in which the plant open form behaves, arguing that plant life can only be fully recognized by adopting a non-Euclidian perspective and defining center-standing on new grounds. Subsequently, I analyse how the open character of plants is modified in the process of domestication and how plant-human forms are melded by enhanced fruiting properties. In the following section, I examine how to express ethical concern and care for open beings and how these concerns may become more consciously oriented at epistemological, aesthetic and ethical levels; interdisciplinary art-science-philosophical research could play a vital role in that and open up more participatory approaches for the design of plant-human forms in the fields of agriculture and landscape management. Finally, I conclude that the philosophical notion of open being should also lead to explore a number of more general issues that reach beyond plants

The food debate: ethical versus substantial equivalence

34 ref.International audienceSubstantial equivalence (SE) has been introduced to assess novel foods, includ inggenetically modified (GM) food, by means of comparison with traditional food. Be sides a number of objections concerning its scientific validity for risk assessment, the main difficulty with SE is that it implies that food can be qualified on a purely substantial basis.SE embodies the assumption that only reductive scientific arguments are legitimate for decision-making in public policy due to the emphasis on legal issues. However, the surge of the food debate clearly shows that this technocratic model is not accepted anymore.Food is more than physico-chemical substance and encompasses values such as quality and ethics. These values are legitimate in their own right and require that new democratic processes are set up for transverse,transdisciplinary assessment in partnership with society. The notion of equivalence can provide a reference scale in which to examine the various legitimate factors involved:substance (SE), quality (QualitativeEquivalence: QE), and ethics (Ethical Equivalence: EE). QE requires that new qualitative methods of evaluation that are not based on reductive principles are developed. EE can provide a basis for the development of an Ethical Assurance as a counter part of Quality Assurance in the food sector. In France, a second circle of expertise is being set up to address the social issues in food public policy beside classical risk assessment by the first circle of expertise. Since ethics is likely to become an organizing principle of the second circle, the equivalence ethical framework can prove instrumental in this context