Reasonable Risk-Taking in Everyday Life

Abstract

Risk-taking implies uncertainty and possibly disastrous outcomes. This chapter explores the different ways how people manage such uncertainties when taking risks. Following a modernist world view, it starts with distinguishing instrumental rationality from so-called non-rational strategies such as hope, ideology and faith and shows that both are efficient ways to manage uncertainty. Furthermore, it introduced the notion of in-between strategies such as trust, intuition and emotions and discusses their value in everyday risk-taking. The chapter concludes that in everyday life, all these strategies combine in complex ways in reasonable ways of risk-taking.