The Price of Precaution and the Ethics of Risk

1 Introduction.- 1.1 Background.- 1.1.1 Diversity and Unclarity.- 1.1.2 The Price of Precaution.- 1.1.3 Precaution, Risk Analysis and Models of Rationality.- 1.1.4 The Ideal of the Desirability of Precaution.- 1.2 Aim,Plan and Basis.- 1.2.1 Plan of the Book.-1.2.2 The Requirement of Precaution.- 1.2.3 Degrees of Precaution.-References.- 2 Dimensions of Precaution.-2.1 Values, Levels and Time-Horizons.-2.1.1 Values.- 2.1.2 Levels and Time-Horizons.-2.2 May Bring Great Harm.- 2.2.1 De MinimisRisk and the Need for a Limit.-2.2.2 The Argument from Decision Costs.-2.3 Show.- 2.3.1 Proof-Standards.- 2.3.2 Decisional Paralysis.- 2.3.3 The Holistic Nature of Precaution.-2.3.4 Conservatism and Arbitrariness.-2.4 Risk.- 2.4.1 Likelihoods, Values or Combinations?.- 2.4.2 Quantities, Qualities and Levels of Precision.- 2.4.3 Objective or Subjective?.- 2.5 Too Serious.-2.6 SummingUp.- References.-Contents.-3 Precaution and Rationality.- 3.1 Rational Action - the Standard View.- 3.1.1 Efficiency, Value Neutrality and CalculatedRisk Taking.- 3.1.2 Enlightment Critique and the Charge ofInstrumental Rationality.- 3.2 Rational Precaution.- 3.2.1 Ignorance, Precaution and the Maximin Rule.-3.2.2 Limitations of Plausibility, Applicability and Status.- 3.3 From Rationality to Morality.- 3.3.1 Rawls’ Appeal to Responsibility.-3.3.2 Moral Opinions About Risk Impositions.-3.3.3 Moral Dilemmas of Precaution.- References.- 4 Ethics and Risks.-4.1 Traditional Criteria of Rightness.-4.1.1 TheDiversity ofNormativeEthic.-4.1.2 Factualism and the Silence on Risks.-4.1.3 Autonomy and Justice.-4.1.4 The Two Level Approach.- 4.2 The Virtue of Precaution.- 4.3 Abandoning Factualism.- 4.3.1 The Forbidden Risks Approach.- 4.3.2 Trading Off Risks and Harms 1: Apples and Oranges.- 4.3.3 Trading Off Risks and Harms 2: ImprovingPractical Guidance.- 4.3.4 Trading Off Risks and Harms 3: The Knowability Argument.-4.3.5 Trading Off Risks and Harms 4: Back to Square One References.-5 The Morality of Imposing Risks.- 5.1 Basic Structure.-5.2 The Problem of Guidance.-5.3 Basic Intuitions About Responsibility.- 5.3.1 Absolutes or Degrees?.- 5.3.2 What About Intentions?.- 5.3.3 Assessing and Comparing Degrees of Responsibility.- 5.3.4 Avoiding Indeterminacy - Possibility and Desirability.-5.4 Areas of Precaution.- 5.4.1 Beyond Risk Neutrality.- 5.4.2 The Quality of Available Evidence.- 5.5 The Weight of Evil.-5.5.1 Conceptual Preliminaries.-5.5.2 Five Approaches.- 5.5.3 The Case Against Rigidity.- 5.5.4 Rigidity of Aggregation and the Notion of Rights.- 5.5.5 Simple Progressiveness.- 5.5.6 The Case for Relative Progressiveness.- 5.6 Problems with Relative Progressiveness.-5.6.1 What Implications for other Normative Issues?.- 5.6.2 The Lack of Numerical Exactness.- 5.6.3 What Size of the Weight?.- 5.6.4 Pure or Mixed Relative Progressiveness?.- 5.6.5 What Makes for an Acceptable Mix of Risksand Chances?.-5.7 SummingUp.- References.-6 Practical Applications.- 6.1 General Cases.- 6.1.1 Consumerism.- 6.1.2 Why Individual Motivation Should Not Be the Target.- 6.1.3 Precaution as a Collective Good and the Needfor a Politics of Power.- 6.2 Hard Cases.- 6.2.1 Climate Change and Pollution.- 6.2.2 Nuclear Power and Energy Production.- 6.2.3 Biotechnology.-6.3 Policy.- 6.3.1 Do We Really Need a PP?.-6.3.2 Principlism vs. Proceduralism.- 6.3.3 De Minimis Revisited.- 6.3.4 Justifying the Proof Requirement of JustifiablePolicy Claim.- 6.3.5 Justifying the Burden of Proof Requirement.-6.3.6 Conservatism Revisited.- 6.4 Big Questions.-6.4.1 The Enlightment Ideals Revisite