Risk and Responsibility: A Complex and Evolving Relationship |
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Authors: | Céline Kermisch |
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Institution: | 1.Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique,Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires en Bioéthique (CP175/01), Université Libre de Bruxelles,Bruxelles,Belgium |
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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. |
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