Introduction to Risk Theory
Risk is an important topic in contemporary society. People are confronted with risks from financial markets, nuclear power plants, natural disasters and privacy leaks in ICT systems, to mention just a few of a sheer endless list of areas in which uncertai
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Introduction to Risk Theory Sabine Roeser, Rafaela Hillerbrand, Per Sandin and Martin Peterson
Introduction Risk is an important topic in contemporary society. People are confronted with risks from financial markets, nuclear power plants, natural disasters and privacy leaks in ICT systems, to mention just a few of a sheer endless list of areas in which uncertainty and risk of harm play an important role. It is in that sense not surprising that risk is studied in fields as diverse as mathematics and natural sciences but also psychology, economics, sociology, cultural studies, and philosophy. The topic of risk gives rise to concrete problems that require empirical investigations, but these empirical investigations need to be structured by theoretical frameworks. This handbook offers an overview of different approaches to risk theory, ranging from general issues in risk theory to risk in practice, from mathematical approaches in decision theory to empirical research of risk perception, to theories of risk ethics and to frameworks on how to arrange society in order to deal appropriately with risk. Risk theory provides frameworks that can contribute to mitigating risks, coming to grips with uncertainty, and offering ways to organize society in such a way that the unexpected and unknown can be anticipated or at least dealt with in a reasonable and ethically acceptable way. This Book presents essential topics in risk
S. Roeser (&) R. Hillerbrand Department of Philosophy, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] S. Roeser University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands P. Sandin Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden M. Peterson Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
S. Roeser et al. (eds.), Essentials of Risk Theory, SpringerBriefs in Philosophy, DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-5455-3_1, Ó The Author(s) 2013
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theory. It is based on a longer book, the Handbook of Risk Theory (Springer, 2012). The Handbook of Risk Theory reflects the current state of the art in risk theory, by bringing together scholars from various disciplines who review the topic of risk from different angles. In the following sections we provide for a short overview of the contributions to the Handbook of Risk Theory.
Part 1: General Issues in Risk Theory Theoretical reflection about risk gives rise to various general issues. What is the relation between risk research and philosophy? What can the two disciplines learn from each other? How are the concepts of risk and safety interrelated? Which different levels of uncertainty can be distinguished? Part one of the handbook discusses these general issues in risk theory.
Sven Ove Hansson: A Panorama of the Philosophy of Risk Sven Ove Hansson’s chapter provides for an overview of the contributions that different philosophical subdisciplines and risk theory can provide for each other. He starts out with discussing the potential contributions of philosophy to risk theory. These contributions concern t
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