Castellano

Abstract

Theories of moral deliberation in bioethics committees should take into account that deliberation takes place in social groups. That being so, knowledge management studies on communities of practice and research on group processes in social psychology can provide assistance in improving the decision-making method employed in bioethics, offering practical recommendations for both the arrangement and development of committees, as well as the deliberation process itself. Some remarkable practical recommendations are the importance of diversity and rotation in the composition of committees, secret voting as the decision-making procedure, the promotion of formal and informal contacts with groups of experts and laypeople, paying attention to the context and enabling different types of participation. The aim is to avoid problems that hinder good moral deliberation such as conformity, polarization, dogmatism, prejudices or wastefulness in managing knowledge.