Book “The Ethics of Technological Risk”
Asveld, Lotte and Sabine Roeser, eds. (2009). The Ethics of Technological Risk.
London: Earthscan Publishers.
Order form (get a 20% discount using this form). See also the website of publisher Earthscan for additional info. On February 13th 2009 the book will be officially launched in The Hague, see here for more info.
Book reviews
- ‘A comprehensive and important collection that includes essays by some of the leading figures in the field. ...Essential reading for anyone interested in risk assessment.’ - Professor Kristin Shrader-Frechette, University of Notre Dame
- ‘The ethics of technological risk is a topic of great public concern. The editors are to be congratulated for bringing together a distinguished international group of theorists to reflect on the issues. This volume will be sure to raise the level of debate while at the same time showing the importance of philosophical reflection in approaches to the problems of the age.’ - Jonathan Wolff, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Philosophy, Justice and Health at University College London
Introduction to the book
Technology has advanced human well being in a myriad of respects, for example in the areas of energy, communication and travel. Still, every technology has negative side-effects and may include risks from accidents and pollution. How to judge whether a risk is acceptable is a pressing ethical question that deserves thorough investigation.
There is a vast amount of sociological and psychological research on acceptable risks, but surprisingly, there is very little research from moral philosophy on risks. This is even more surprising given the fact that biomedical ethics has become a full-blown academic discipline. Moral philosophers, at least those in the analytic tradition, have largely avoided the discussion of technologies that belong to the domain of engineering. Continental philosophers have focused on technology, but mainly from a pessimistic perspective that sees technology foremost as a threat for a meaningful life. However, this is a much too one-sided approach. It is true that technologies can change our lives for the worse, however, they can and do also change our lives for the better. It is too easy and too simplistic to reject technology as such. It is much more complicated, but much truer to the facts, to see technology as the bringer of a lot of good things but also a lot of problematic things. However, then it becomes far from obvious how we should judge whether we should accept a certain technology and its concomitant risks.
In risk management, the standard way to judge the acceptability of a specific technology is to calculate risk in terms of probabilities times unwanted outcomes and then apply cost-benefit (or risk-benefit) analysis. However, next to the balance between the benefits and risks of a technology the following considerations seem to be important: for example, the distribution of costs and benefits, whether a risk is voluntarily taken, whether there are available alternatives and whether a risk is catastrophic. This gives rise to the following questions:
- What are morally legitimate considerations in judging the acceptability of risks?
- Is cost-benefit analysis the best method to reach a decision or do we need additional considerations that cannot easily be incorporated into that framework?
- Is the precautionary principle a fruitful tool in dealing with risks?
- What role should the public play in judging the acceptability of risks?
- What role should emotions play in judging the acceptability of risks? Are they irrational and distorting or are they a necessary precondition for practically rational judgments?
This volume wants to spark research into ethical aspects of risk by bringing together moral philosophers, sociologists and psychologists who reflect on the questions mentioned above. It comprises discussions on biomedical risks as well as on risks originating in other fields of technology such as electromagnetic radiation and energy systems.
Table of contents
Foreword - Yvo de Boer
Acknowledgements
Part I: Introduction
1. The Ethics of Technological Risk: Introduction and Overview
2. An Agenda for the Ethics of Risk
Part II: Principles and Guidelines
3. A Plea for a Rich Conception of Risks
4. Requirements for the Social Acceptability of Risk Generating Technological Activities
5. Clinical Equipoise and the Assessment of Acceptable Therapeutic Risk
6. Acceptable Risk to Future Generations
7. The Ethical Assessment of Unpredictable Risks in the Use of Genetically Engineered Livestock for Biomedical Research
Part III: Methodological Considerations
8. Ethics, Reasons, and Risk Analysis
9. Incommensurability: The Failure to Compare Risks
10. Welfare Judgments and Risk
Part IV: Involving the Public
11. Risk As Feeling: Some Thoughts about Affect, Reason, Risk and Rationality
12. The Relation between Cognition and Affect in Moral Judgments about Risks
13. Risk and Public Imagination: Mediated Risk Perception as Imaginative Moral Judgment
14. Trust and Criteria for Proof of Risk: The Case of Mobile Phone Technology in the Netherlands
Part V: Instruments for Democratization
15. Risk-Management through National Ethics Councils?
16. Ethical Responsibilities of Engineers in Design Processes: Risks, Regulative Frameworks and Societal Division of Labour
Part VI: Conclusion
17. Governing Technological Risks
Acronyms and Abbreviations
References
Index
