Towards a 'lingua democratica' for the public debate on genomics

Poster for the concluding conference of the NWO programme 'the Societal Component of Genomics Research' (MCG). Starting from the idea of a ‘lingua franca’ the research project wants to contribute to the development of a ‘lingua democratica’ for the public debate on genomics. A ‘lingua democratica’ is a metaphor for a language in which the central presuppositions and core concepts of the relevant local languages are not transcended in a unified language, but serve as points of departure for the development of horizontal links between local languages and the interests connected with those languages. From an interdisciplinary perspective the project investigates starting points for the development of a ‘lingua democratica’ in the ‘language games’ of four important ‘players’ in the public debate on genomics: A) relevant scientific disciplines, with special attention given to metaphors in genomics and ethics (Van der Weele) and to the possibilities of systems and complexity theories (Pieters); B) business corporations, especially those aiming at socially responsible and sustainable performance (Kunneman); C) sceptical NGOs, especially those fighting genetic modification of food (Meira-Kochetkova), and D) representatives of religious and humanist worldviews, in particular as far as they express opinions and arguments on genomic enhancement of human beings, more specifically enhancement of the human brain (Grünler) and of the human life span (Derkx). The research project started February 1, 2004 with the original team of five and will continue till July 1, 2009 when Pieters plans to finish his PhD thesis. At the end of 2004 Ch.S. Grünler, a German PhD student, joined the project and in October 2007 he successfully defended his thesis on ethical positions on genetic enhancement of the human brain.