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Measuring the Subjective Value of Risky and Ambiguous Options using Experimental Economics and Functional MRI Methods
13:04

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Published on: September 19, 2012

Safety, risk acceptability, and morality.

James A E Macpherson1

  • 1Philosophy Department, The Ohio State University, 350 University Hall, 230 N. Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. macpherson.10@osu.edu

Science and Engineering Ethics
|April 1, 2008
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study offers a new conceptual analysis of safety, distinguishing it from risk acceptability by examining the probability of value loss. This framework clarifies safety judgments and their moral implications.

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Area of Science:

  • Philosophy of Science
  • Risk Analysis
  • Ethics

Background:

  • Previous analyses of safety often conflate it with risk acceptability.
  • Risk acceptability incorporates potential benefits, making it more subjective than safety.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and defend a novel conceptual analysis of safety.
  • To differentiate safety from risk acceptability and explore their subjective elements.
  • To connect the distinction between safety and risk acceptability to moral viewpoints.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual analysis of safety and risk acceptability.
  • Distinction between safety qua cause and safety qua recipient.
  • Definition of safety in terms of probability of value loss.

Main Results:

  • Safety is distinct from risk acceptability due to the exclusion of potential benefits.
  • Two types of safety (qua cause, qua recipient) are defined by the probability of value loss.
  • Subjectivity in safety judgments arises from perceptions of probability and value.

Conclusions:

  • The proposed analysis of safety is less subjective than prior approaches.
  • The distinction between safety and risk acceptability has significant implications for consequentialist and deontological ethics.