Confusing Deliberation

Chapter 5 examines the politics surrounding George W. Bush’s embryonic stem cell policy, and in particular debates over what terms should be used in public debate about human cloning. It examines the approach of the President’s Council on Bioethics to ground its deliberations in a shared language that would open up space for ethical disagreement, rather that limit it in the name of producing consensus. The Council’s project of finding a common language was appropriated by a group of scientists who set about to reform the language employed in public deliberation.