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Risk and Responsibility: A Complex and Evolving Relationship
- Source :
- Science and Engineering Ethics
- Publication Year :
- 2010
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2010.
-
Abstract
- This paper analyses the nature of the relationship between risk and responsibility. Since neither the concept of risk nor the concept of responsibility has an unequivocal definition, it is obvious that there is no single interpretation of their relationship. After introducing the different meanings of responsibility used in this paper, we analyse four conceptions of risk. This allows us to make their link with responsibility explicit and to determine if a shift in the connection between risk and responsibility can be outlined. (1) In the engineer's paradigm, the quantitative conception of risk does not include any concept of responsibility. Their relationship is indirect, the locus of responsibility being risk management. (2) In Mary Douglas' cultural theory, risks are constructed through the responsibilities they engage. (3) Rayner and (4) Wolff go further by integrating forms of responsibility in the definition of risk itself. Analysis of these four frameworks shows that the concepts of risk and responsibility are increasingly intertwined. This tendency is reinforced by increasing public awareness and a call for the integration of a moral dimension in risk management. Therefore, we suggest that a form of virtue-responsibility should also be integrated in the concept of risk.
- Subjects :
- Risk
Moral Obligations
Health (social science)
Virtue
Responsibility
media_common.quotation_subject
Culture
Article
Health(social science)
Engineering
Management of Technology and Innovation
Culture theory
Humans
Sociology
Models of risk
Social Behavior
Risk management
Public awareness
media_common
Risk Management
Philosophy of science
business.industry
Health Policy
Epistemology
Issues, ethics and legal aspects
Cultural theory
business
Social responsibility
Social psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14715546 and 13533452
- Volume :
- 18
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Science and Engineering Ethics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ff169b96d4a67d6e99c5a8699ae8d255