L’ humanitude au pouvoir : une éthique territoriale?

Abstract

Citizens can decide on the common good. This postulate, defended by Jacques Testart, a reproductive biologist and critic of science, invites us to reflect on the involvement of citizens in decision-making processes concerning various social issues. He presents the convention of citizens as a procedure to debate and elaborate opinions in the name of the interest of humanity and the common good. The author presents the main stages of this convention and compares two of them to Quebec approaches: the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE) and the consultation of stakeholders. The comparative exercise highlights the differences between the procedures while opening the way to new practices of territorial ethics. The central question is to determine how a community can choose, and according to what modalities, the values guiding the development of their territory? There are resistances and the multiplication of experiences would be an interesting way to experiment in different territorial scales (local,
supra-local and regional).