Acceptable Evidence Science and Values in Risk Management

by Mayo, Deborah G.; Hollander, Rachelle D.

• ISBN13: 9780195063721
• ISBN10: 0195063724
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1991-11-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
Perceiving and Communicating Risk Evidence
Introduction	p. 3
Hidden Hazards	p. 9
Acceptable Evidence in a Pluralistic Society	p. 29
Beyond Numbers: A Broader Perspective on Risk Perception and Risk Communication	p. 48
Guidelines for Communicating Information About Chemical Risks Effectively and Responsibly	p. 66
Uncertain Evidence in Risk Management
Introduction	p. 93
Risk Assessment and Risk Management: An Uneasy Divorce	p. 99
Understanding Uncertainties in Medical Evidence: Professional and Public Responsibilities	p. 115
Evidential, Ethical, and Policy Disputes: Admissible Evidence in Radioactive Waste Management	p. 137
Expert Claims and Social Decisions: Science, Politics, and Responsibility	p. 160
Philosophy and Scientific Evidence
Introduction	p. 177
Knowledge, Values, and Technological Decisions: A Decision Theoretic Approach	p. 183
Causing Harm: Epidemiological and Physiological Concepts of Causation	p. 204
Reductionist Approaches to Risk	p. 218
Sociological Versus Metascientific Views of Risk Assessment	p. 249
Contributors	p. 281
Index	p. 283
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