Moral Responsibility and Risk in Society: Examples from Emerging Technologies, Public Health and Environment

Description

Risks, including health and technological, attract a lot of attention in modern societies, from individuals as well as policy-makers. Human beings have always had to deal with dangers, but contemporary societies conceptualise these dangers as risks, indicating that they are to some extent controllable and calculable. Conceiving of dangers in this way implies a need to analyse how we hold people responsible for risks and how we can and should take responsibility for risks. Moral Responsibility and Risk in Society combines philosophical discussion of different concepts and notions of responsibility with context-specific applications in the areas of health, technology and environment. The book consists of two parts addressing two crucial aspects of risks and responsibility: holding agents responsible, i.e. ascribing and distributing responsibility for risks, and taking responsibility for risk. More specifically, the book discusses the values of fairness and efficacy in responsibility distributions and makes distinctions between backward-looking and forward-looking responsibility as well as individual and collective responsibility. Additionally, it analyses what it means to take responsibility for technological risks, conceptualising this kind of responsibility as a virtue, and furthermore, explores the notion of responsible risk communication and the implications for adult-child relationships. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental ethics, bioethics, public health ethics, engineering ethics, philosophy of risk and moral philosophy. Cover Half Title Book Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Permissions Introduction: moral responsibility and risk The thesis of this book References Part I Holding agents responsible for risk Introduction to Part I: moral responsibility – the philosophical discussion Emotions and reflection Causation and responsibility Risk Conceptual relations between risk and responsibility References 1 Fairness and efficacy in responsibility distributions Introduction Two values Public health: inherent tension between fairness and efficacy Libertarianism and rights – fairness as only relevant value Utilitarianism – efficacy as only relevant value Efficacy and responsibility for health Fairness and efficacy in policy-making concerning risk Conclusion Note References 2 Backward-looking and forward-looking responsibility Introduction Causing the mess and picking up the pieces Causal responsibility and blame Conditions of backward-looking responsibility Forward-looking responsibility ascriptions Responsibility distribution as task distribution Vision Zero – separating backward-looking and forward-looking responsibility Alcohol interlocks – forward-looking responsibility in practice Forward-looking responsibility and the distinction between natural and technological risks Conclusion Notes References 3 Individual and collective responsibility Introduction The notion of collective responsibility Environmental responsibility – individual or collective? Examples: the intuitive level Individuals and blameworthiness Reasonable alternatives Individual forward-looking responsibility Collective responsibility for environmental problems Conclusion Notes References Part II Taking responsibility for risk Introduction to Part II: taking responsibility for risk Being a responsible person – insights from virtue ethics Responsibility as a virtue – a first sketch Virtue ethics Care, moral imagination and practical wisdom Note References 4 Taking responsibility for technological risks Introduction Risky technologies Example: autonomous cars and ethical responsibility The problem of many hands “Responsible” organisations Avoiding the problem of many hands – towards responsible technological development Risk detection and management Is this demanding too much? Conclusion Notes References 5 Responsible risk communication Introduction Three conditions of responsible risk communication Example 1: nuclear energy Example 2: vaccination policy Example 3: infant feeding recommendations Conclusion Notes References 6 Children, risk and responsibility Introduction Ethics and children Parental responsibility and the use of technology to protect children Parental responsibility as a virtue Responsibility as a virtue and children as developing moral agents Conclusion Notes References Index