The ethical government of science and innovation

From a traditional field of philosophy ethics has become a crucial means of government. Fast-evolving sciences and technologies need a thorough ethical evaluation. However, ethics has been framed as a self-standing issue amenable to ‘scientific’ treatment, similarly to, and associated with, the assessment of the risk, safety and efficacy of innovation, in a concerted effort to contain the latter’s politicization. The chapter analyses the triangulation of science, ethics and economy. First, it clarifies why ethics cannot be a substitute for politics. Subsequently it shows how the institutionalization of ethics advisory bodies and of ethical review in the anticipatory assessment of research and innovation are inscribed in a neoliberal rationale, as characterized by depoliticization, staged participation and indirect regulation based on people’s self-disciplining. An effective governance of science and innovation has to address their political aspects, that is, their embroilment with choices that can never be fully inclusive and rationally justified.