University and the risk society

The social order of the new modernity is often referred to as “risk society.” The growing complexity of the new modernity generates hazards and insecurities at unprecedented pace and level of severity. This necessitates a more informed discourse on the underlying sociological and ethical principles within universities as part of the curriculum and with universities as a collective agent of the risk society. This paper addresses the role, responsibility, and tasks of science and universities in providing solutions to control such hazards and insecurities in a “risk society.” We identify three distinct fields. First, we examine how the inherent limits caused by the probabilistic nature of natural laws impacts the work of scientists assessing and forecasting risks. Scientists, when determining risks, often use the Bayesian approach as a surrogate for knowledge. We argue that these conditions often limit the ability of scientists to forecast precisely risk events. We then discuss methods for assessing complex...