Ethics and Risks

Abstract

The conclusion reached in the foregoing chapter, that it is desirable to base the requirement of precautionrequirement of precaution on a set of categorical moral convictions, moves our quest into the area of ethics. However, this in itself takes us only so far. For, bold conjectures to the contrary notwithstanding,1 it is far from obvious what kind of ethical reasons could actually accomplish this. Moral claims and ethical theories come in all shapes and sizes, both in the form of competing claims or theories answering the same moral question, but also claims or theories constructed to answer quite different albeit equally moral queries. A basic issue therefore seems to be where claims about the moral responsibility of decisions to impose risks – like the ones used by RawlsRawls or sentiments of the type awaken by the examples with my former neighbour the terrorist and the case of the genetically modified crop – genetically modified crop are to be located in this complex scheme.