Christian Munthe undertakes an innovative, in-depth philosophical analysis of what the idea of a precautionary principle is and should be about. A novel theory of the ethics of imposing risks is developed and used as a foundation for defending the idea of precaution in environmental and technological policy making against its critics, while at the same time avoiding a number of identified flaws. The theory is shown to have far-reaching practical conclusions for areas such as bio-, information- and nuclear technology, and global environmental policy in areas such as climate change. The author argues that, while the price we pay for precaution must not be too high, we have to be prepared to pay it in order to act ethically defensible. A number of practical suggestions for precautionary regulation and policy making are made on the basis of this, and some challenges to basic ethical theory as well as consumerist societies, the global political order and liberal democracy are identified. Munthe’s book is a well-argued contribution to the PP debate, putting neglected justificatory and methodological questions at the forefront. His many discussions of alternative accounts as well as his drawing out the consequences of his own suggestion in practical cases give the reader a thorough, holistic sense of what justification of PP amounts to. /..../ Munthe’s main case, his argumentation for the requirement of precaution as a moral norm, is convincing and puts a strong pressure on too narrow alternative suggestions on how it should be perceived and justified, and he launches a plausible defence of its practical usability.

There are thousands of substances manufactured in the United States to which the public is routinely exposed and for which toxicity data are limited or absent. Some insist that uncertainty about the severity of potential harm justifies implementing precautionary regulations, while others claim that uncertainty justifies the absence of regulations until sufficient evidence confirms a strong probability of severe harm. In this book, Levente Szentkirályi overcomes this impasse in his defense of precautionary environmental risk regulation by shifting the focus from how to manage uncertainty to what it is we owe each other morally. He argues that actions that create uncertain threats wrongfully gamble with the welfare of those who are exposed and neglect the reciprocity that our equal moral standing demands. If we take the moral equality and rights of others seriously, we have a duty to exercise due care to strive to prevent putting them in possible harm’s way. The Ethics of Precaution will be of great interest to researchers, educators, advanced students, and practitioners working in the fields of environmental political theory, ethics of risk, and environmental policy.

First Published in 2010. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

AcknowledgmentsList of Contributors1. Embracing RiskTom Baker and Jonathan SimonPart One: Toward a Sociology of Insurance and Risk2 Risk, Insurance, and the Social Construction of ResponsibilityTom Baker3 Beyond Moral Hazard: Insurance as Moral OpportunityDeborah Stone4 Embracing Fatality through Life Insurance in Eighteenth-Century EnglandGeoffrey Clark5 Imagining Insurance: Risk, Thrift, and Life Insurance in BritainPat O'Malley6 Insuring More, Ensuring Less: The Costs and Benefits of Private Regulation through InsuranceCarol A. Heimer7 Rhetoric of Risk and the Redistribution of Social InsuranceMartha McCluskeyPart Two: Risk(s) beyond Insurance8 Taking Risks: Extreme Sports and the Embrace of Risk in Advanced Liberal SocietiesJonathan Simon9 At Risk of MadnessNikolas Rose10 The Policing of RiskRichard V. Ericson and Kevin D. Haggerty11 The Return of Descartes's Malicious Demon: An Outline of a Philosophy of PrecautionFrancois Ewald (translated by Stephen Utz)Index Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

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