Science and Engineering Ethics 14 (1):77-92 (2008)
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Abstract |
In this paper, we present a Capabilities -based Approach to the acceptability and the tolerability of risks posed by natural and man-made hazards. We argue that judgments about the acceptability and/or tolerability of such risks should be based on an evaluation of the likely societal impact of potential hazards, defined in terms of the expected changes in the capabilities of individuals. Capabilities refer to the functionings, or valuable doings and beings, individuals are able to achieve given available personal, material, and social resources. The likely impact of a hazard on individuals’ capabilities should, we argue, be compared against two separate thresholds. The first threshold specifies the minimum level of capabilities attainment that is acceptable in principle for individuals to have in the aftermath of a hazard over any period of time. This threshold captures the level that individuals’ capabilities ideally should not fall below. A risk is acceptable if the probability that the attained capabilities will be less than the acceptable level is sufficiently small. In practice, it can be tolerable for some individuals to temporarily fall below the acceptable threshold, provided this situation of lower capabilities attainment is temporary, reversible, and the probability that capabilities will fall below a tolerability threshold is sufficiently small. This second, tolerable threshold delimits an absolute minimum level of capabilities attainment below which no individual in a society should ever fall, regardless of whether that level of capabilities attainment is temporary or reversible. In this paper, we describe and justify this Capabilities -based Approach to the acceptability and tolerability of risks. We argue that the proposed theoretical framework avoids the limitations in current approaches to acceptable risk. The proposed approach focuses the attention of risk analysts directly on what should be our primary concern when judging the acceptability and the tolerability of risks, namely, how risks impact the well-being of individuals in a society. Also, our Capabilities -based Approach offers a transparent, easily communicable way for determining the acceptability and the tolerability of risks
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Keywords | Acceptable risk Tolerable risk Risk analysis Capabilities-based approach Society Cost-benefit analysis |
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DOI | 10.1007/s11948-007-9031-8 |
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References found in this work BETA
Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach.Martha C. Nussbaum - 2000 - Cambridge University Press.
Elements of a Theory of Human Rights.S. E. N. Amartya - 2004 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 32 (4):315–356.
Towards Elements of a Theory of Human Rights.Amartya Sen - 2004 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 32 (4).
Aristotle, Politics, and Human Capabilities: A Response to Antony, Arneson, Charlesworth, and Mulgan.Martha C. Nussbaum - 2000 - Ethics 111 (1):102-140.
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Citations of this work BETA
Framework for the Analysis of Nanotechnologies’ Impacts and Ethical Acceptability: Basis of an Interdisciplinary Approach to Assessing Novel Technologies.Johane Patenaude, Georges-Auguste Legault, Jacques Beauvais, Louise Bernier, Jean-Pierre Béland, Patrick Boissy, Vanessa Chenel, Charles-Étienne Daniel, Jonathan Genest, Marie-Sol Poirier & Danielle Tapin - 2015 - Science and Engineering Ethics 21 (2):293-315.
Human Development or Human Enhancement? A Methodological Reflection on Capabilities and the Evaluation of Information Technologies.Mark Coeckelbergh - 2011 - Ethics and Information Technology 13 (2):81-92.
Distributing Risks: Allocation Principles for Distributing Reversible and Irreversible Losses.Neelke Doorn - 2018 - Ethics, Policy and Environment 21 (1):96-109.
Classification and Moral Evaluation of Uncertainties in Engineering Modeling.Colleen Murphy, Paolo Gardoni & Charles E. Harris - 2011 - Science and Engineering Ethics 17 (3):553-570.
Evaluating the Source of the Risks Associated with Natural Events.Colleen Murphy & Paolo Gardoni - 2011 - Res Publica 17 (2):125-140.
View all 7 citations / Add more citations
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