Acceptable Evidence: Science and Values in Risk Management (Environmental Ethics and Science Policy Series) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195063724 ISBN 13: 9780195063721

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1991

Synopsis

Discussions of science and values in risk management have largely focussed on the entry of values in judging risks, that is, issues of acceptable risk. This volume instead concentrates on the entry of values in collecting, interpreting, communicating, and evaluating the evidence of risks, that is, issues of the acceptability of evidence of risk. By focusing on acceptable evidence, this volume avoids two barriers to progress: views that assume that evidence of risk is largely a matter of objective scientific data and therefore uncontroversial, and views that assume that evidence of risk is ineluctably a matter of values and therefore not amenable to reasoned critique. This volume denies both extremes. It argues for a more constructive conclusion: that understanding the interrelations of scientific with value issues enables a critical scrutiny of risk assessments. This volume analyzes environmental and medical controversies, and assumptions underlying views about risk assessment and the scientific and statistical models used in risk management. Contributors include philosophers, policy analysts, and natural and social scientists.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah G. Mayo is at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Rachelle D. Hollander is at National Science Foundation.

Review

"An excellent survey of a number of issues in environmental ethics."--Joel B. Goldsteen, University of Texas at Arlington

"This volume shows that rational, critical approaches to value-laden risk judgments can be fruitful, making possible more sophisticated risk assessments and risk management that better comprehends the values at stake....The focus on evidence of risk and values holds together the diversity of perspectives and real world examples, making the volume useful for teaching."--Ethics

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195063724
• ISBN 13: 9780195063721
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304
• Editor: Mayo Deborah G., Hollander Rachelle D.