ORIGINAL RESEARCH
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v33i2.736

 

After Fukushima: The precautionary principle revisited

 

 

Wolfgang Huber^{I, II, III, IV}

^IFellow of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Stellenbosch, South Africa
^IIFaculty of Theology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany
^IIIFaculty of Theology, University of Heidelberg, Germany
^IVResearch associate, Department of Dogmatics and Christian Ethics, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Etienne de Villiers, more than other theologians, elaborates on basic elements of a Christian ethics of responsibility. He distinguishes between retrospective and prospective responsibility. The prospective aspect attracted awareness after the nuclear accident in the Fukushima reactors on 11 March 2011. The question on how to respond in an ethically responsible manner to catastrophic risks was put back on the agenda. The article takes up this question and discusses the answer given in the international debate by the introduction of the 'precautionary principle'. The principle is described with its background in the 'heuristics of fear', proposed by the philosopher Hans Jonas. Four criticisms are discussed in detail relating to the problems of scientific uncertainty, the burden of proof, the weight of damages and the perils of precaution. That leads to a reformulation of the precautionary principle as a concrete element within an ethics of responsibility.

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Correspondence:
Wolfgang Huber
Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS)
Wallenberg Research Centre
Stellenbosch University
Marais Street
Stellenbosch 7600
South Africa
Email: sekretariat@wolfganghuber.info

Received: 03 May 2012
Accepted: 07 June 2012
Published: 06 Dec. 2012