Risk and Uncertainty: Foundational Issues
This chapter provides a critical reflection on the notions of risk and uncertainty and their relevance in philosophy and in urban planning. Decision making under conditions of risk and of uncertainty are differentiated and discussed from a philosophical p
- PDF / 224,110 Bytes
- 13 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 56 Downloads / 179 Views
Risk and Uncertainty: Foundational Issues Daniele Chiffi and Simona Chiodo
1.1 Introduction The aim of this chapter is twofold: first, it is meant to provide its audience (especially non-philosophical readers) with an overview of the philosophical meanings of the notions of risk and uncertainty; and, second, it aims at suggesting which philosophical perspectives are most promising in understanding risks and uncertainties in the complex processes of embrittlement that derive from the relationship between space and society. Moreover, we will explore how our cities and landscapes are exposed to risk and uncertainty because of both natural and human factors. The structure of the present contribution is the following: Sect. 1.1 provides an overview of the philosophical meanings of the notions of risk (Sect. 1.2) and uncertainty (Sect. 1.3); Sect. 1.4 contains a brief suggestion about how philosophers can better collaborate with urban planners and decision-makers working on the possible solutions to the embrittlement of our cities and landscapes; finally, Sect. 1.5 presents our conclusions, showing a unified approach towards a philosophy of urban planning.
1.2 The Philosophical Meanings of the Notion of Risk Before focusing on the conceptual meaning of the notion of risk, let us start by making reference to its etymological meaning. The etymology of “risk” is quite uncertain: the ancient Italian word riscare, which means “to run into danger”, may refer to the Latin word resecare, i.e. “to cut”, or, according to some authors, how rocky outcrops D. Chiffi (B) · S. Chiodo Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy e-mail: [email protected] S. Chiodo e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 A. Balducci et al. (eds.), Risk and Resilience, SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56067-6_1
1
2
D. Chiffi and S. Chiodo
cut through ships posing a true navigation hazard. If this makes any sense, then, at least figuratively, we may also think of the process of “cutting” as a kind of division, which means that a given action may have both a positive and a negative outcome since the circumstances make them both possible, and therefore unsure. Indeed, the everyday meaning of the word “risk” seems to refer to circumstances in which it is possible—unlikely as it may be—that a (severely) negative event occurs. From a historical point of view, the philosophical notion of risk originates from two major cultural revolutions dating back to the seventeenth century: the scientific revolution and the idea according to which one of the most important constitutive qualities in a human being is her/his freedom. This takes us to the necessity of working on the scientific tools we need to manage our freedom, starting from the risks implied by any free action, i.e. by an action whose responsibility is totally ours. Pascal’s famous argument on the bet on God’s existence, i.e. on the ris
Data Loading...
