Risk Ethics
Risk ethics is an emerging branch of philosophy that investigates the moral aspects of risk and uncertainty. Although one originating motivation in the pursuit of science and technology was an effort to reduce risk and uncertainty present in the natural world, it has been increasingly appreciated that the scientific and technological world presents its own constructed risks. Recognizing that one form of risk (natural) is overcome only at the cost of another form of risk (involved with science or technology) has stimulated critical reflection on risk in ways that did not occur in the absence of technological risk.
A Brief Introduction to Risk Concepts
Risk has vernacular and technical meanings. In everyday language a risk is simply a danger. But in relation to science and technology, risk is often defined as the probability of some harm. The probability of a benefit is often called a chance. According to another common definition, risk is identified with the value obtained by multiplying the probability of some harm or injury by its magnitude. With any attempt to spell out the details of how this might be done, however, problems arise since it is not clear that there is a single measure for all harms or injuries.
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