Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Limits of Precaution

  • Published:
Foundations of Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The maximin rule can be used as a formal version of the precautionary principle. This paper evaluates the feasibility and the intuitive plausibility of this decision rule. The major conclusions are: (1) Precaution has to be applied symmetrically. (2) Precaution is only possible when outcomes are comparable in terms of value, so that it can be determined which outcome is worst. (3) Precaution is sensitive to standards of possibility. Far-away scenarios have to be excluded, and it is difficult to find a principled way to draw the line. (4) Precaution is sensitive to the framing of decision problems. Local cautiousness may add up to global incautiousness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson, Elizabeth (1993), Value in Ethics and Economics, Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chisholm, Anthony, M., Clarke, Harry, R. (1993), ‘Natural Resource Management and the Precautionary Principle’, in: Edward Dommen (ed.), Fair Principles for Sustainable Development, Aldershot: Edward Elgar Publishing, 109-122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donahoe, F.J. (1969), ‘Anomalous Water’, Nature, 224, 198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansson, Sven Ove (1989), ‘Dimensions of Risk’, Risk Analysis, 9, 107-112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansson, Sven Ove (1996), ‘Decision-Making Under Great Uncertainty’, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 26, 369-386.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansson, Sven Ove (1997), ‘Decision-Theoretic Foundations for Axioms of Rational Preference’, Synthese, 109, 401-412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppenheimer, Robert (1980), Letters and Recollections (ed. Alice Kimball Smith and Charles Weiner), London: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoemaker, Paul, J.H. (1982), ‘The Expected Utility Model: Its Variants, Purposes, Evidence and Limitations’, Journal of Economic Literature 20, 529-563.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Uppsala University, Villav. 5, 75236, Uppsala, Sweden

    Sven Ove Hansson

Authors
  1. Sven Ove Hansson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hansson, S.O. The Limits of Precaution. Foundations of Science 2, 293–306 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009671722406

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009671722406

Search

Navigation