Competing Conceptions of Risk
![handle is hein.journals/risk7 and id is 371 raw text is: Competing Conceptions of Risk
Paul B. Thompson & Wesley Dean*
Introduction
Risk issues are unarguably contentious. People evaluate risks in
incompatible ways and propose conflicting proposals for mitigating or
litigating risk issues. The sources of contention are multiple. Sometimes
people differ because they have different information; sometimes they
differ because they have incompatible interests. This paper addresses
one of the more philosophical and systemic bases for differing opinions
and approaches: The possibility that people have fundamentally or
substantially different conceptions of risk. The philosophical basis for
contention over risk is most evident in the scholarly and scientific
literature. Experts who study risk or risk issues are more likely to
develop well-defined, internally consistent conceptions of risk than
members of the lay public. If distinct philosophical and linguistic
presumptions underlie competing conceptions of risk, it should be
possible to formulate the contentiousness over alternatives in terms of a
principled philosophical debate, with implications for risk analysis, risk
evaluation and risk communication.
Concepts, Conceptions and Definitions
Do experts who differ on risk issues have different concepts of risk,
as Judith Bradbury claims,1 or do they simply employ different
definitions? It depends. The terms concept, and definition, are
themselves often used in overlapping ways. First, we stipulate how each
term will be applied to risk debates in the following analysis, then
develop a usage for the term conception. We will assume that the
* Dr. Thompson is Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Agricultural
Economics at Texas A&M University. He received his Ph.D. (Philosophy) from State
University of New York-Stony Brook.
Mr. Dean is completing his Ph.D. (Sociology) at the University of Alberta. He
received his M.A. (Philosophy) from Texas A&M.
I Judith Bradbury, The Policy Implications of Differing Concepts of Risk, 14 Sci.
Tech. & Human Values 380 (1989).
7 Risk- Health, Safety & Environment 361 [Fall 1996]](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/risk7&div=37&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Competing Conceptions of Risk
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