IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/pal/palchp/978-0-230-62765-9_4.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

Precaution and Progress: Identifying Alternatives

In: Precautionary Risk Management

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Jablonowski

Abstract

The consistent application of precaution may lead to the dilemma of unacceptable expense, and eventual impasse (the “dilemma of precaution”). Reasonable precautions make sense, but limiting our precautionary approach in this fashion does not solve the catastrophe problem. A more far-reaching approach to precaution is needed. This approach requires a broader view of progress that depends on analyzing the potential paths of progress (be it economic, scientific or social) with an eye toward possible risks. It makes sense that genuinely effective precautions must occur before the potential for loss is realized. Applied in this manner, precaution may eliminate the activity before its creation leads to a paradoxical position in which we are essentially “stuck” with the activity, for better or for worse. Precaution in this sense is “anti-progress” only to the extent we have already made irreversible progress toward possible disaster.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Jablonowski, 2006. "Precaution and Progress: Identifying Alternatives," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Precautionary Risk Management, chapter 4, pages 51-76, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-62765-9_4
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230627659_4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-62765-9_4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.