Risk, Prevention and Precaution in Complex Societies

The Course aims to explore the concept of risk, which in today’s complex society takes on forms and meanings that are not always easy to interpret.
The concept of risk is ambivalent, as it concerns both harm and opportunity.
Today’s society is very focused on minimizing harm and maximizing benefits, while respecting a trend that makes the relationship between Man and Nature delicate. Thus, we must consider two other extremely important concepts: prevention, where our knowledge allows us to make predictions and identify the most appropriate choices for the task; and precaution, which comes into play when our level of knowledge does not offer sufficient predictive guarantees. From COVID to climate change, from seismic threats to hydrogeological ones, there is no shortage of examples.

Course structure:

• The concept of risk
• A “risky” society
• Prevention
• Precaution
• Between order and chaos: which side to take