sulted—propositions and entities that seemed to have a right to be
heard. Every time the debate over values appears, the number of par-
ties involved, the range of stakeholders in the discussion, is always
extended.With the expression “But still, there’s an ethical problem
here!” we express our indignation, as we affirm that powerful parties
have neglected to take into consideration certain associations of hu-
mans and nonhumans; we accuse them of having put afait accompli
before us by making decisions too quickly, in too small a committee,
with too few people; we are indignant that they have omitted, forgot-
ten, forbidden, renounced, or denied certain voices that, had they
been consulted, would have considerably modified the definition of
the facts under discussion or would have taken the discussion in a dif-
ferent direction.^13 To appeal to values is to formulate a requirement of
priorconsultation. We do not have on one side those who define facts
and on the other those who define values, those who speak of the com-
mon world versus those who speak of the common good: the only
real difference is between the few and the many; there are those who
meet in secret to unify prematurely what is and those who demon-
strate publicly that they wish to add their grain of salt to the discus-
sion, in order to compose the Republic. When someone complains
about having forgotten a fact or a value, in every instance the com-
plaint can be translated by a single expression: “Some voices are miss-
ing from the roll call.”^14
How shall we formulate this third requirement of consultation? By
the following imperative:Thou shalt ensure that the number of voices that
participate in the articulation of propositions has not been arbitrarily short-
circuited.Once again, it is in the form of an imperative that has to
do with the organization of the discussion that we find the best ex-
pression of the first kernel of truth, which the notion of value had
wrapped up so badly.
Let us note right away, before drawing all the consequences in the
following section, that this third requirementresembles the first oneon
perplexity*, that the two have a most striking family resemblance,
even though tradition has placed them in different camps, dressing
one in the white coat of “Science,” the other in the white toga of “val-
ues.” Both requirements concern the issue of number, for the first
stresses the quantity of new beings that propose their candidacy, while
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