L'éthique embarquée. Faut-il un éthicien dans une équipe de recherche en santé publique ?

Under what conditions can the “ethical” gaze avoid being instrumentalized, and this in particular when looks at the field of practice from within? This question arises even more acutely when ethics is constantly incorporated into activities where social live issues arise (technological and scientific innovation, war technology, etc.). Even when ethical specialists attempt to distance themselves from their topics and to enrich the ethical and social debates, how can one avoid thinking that they - and more generally the researchers in the human and social sciences working on ethical and societal problems - are in fact engaged in legitimizing and rubberstamping controversial projects in order to make them acceptable? In fact, being engaged in a practice is taking part of it, but also being partial to it. What kind of requirements should ethical work live up to? To whom is one accountable? This article takes on this question in the context of public health research ethics, a field still in the making. Laying down the foundations for research into ethics, structured around a descriptive, interpretative and reflexive study, this article highlights some possible ways to resolve the difficulties that any engaged ethics must face. The question of the modalities of accountability is here crucial.