THE PRECAUTIONARY CONCEPT OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES

Abstract

Environmental scientists play a crucial role in the reaction of society to environmental issues, and many of the experiments they do are ultimately meant to shape policy. The precautionary principle, suggested as a new environmental decision-making guideline that has four main components: taking proactive steps in the face of uncertainty; transferring the burden of justification to the advocates of an activity; seeking a wide variety of solutions to potentially adverse actions; and increasing citizen engagement in decision-making. This paper explores the consequences for environmental scientists of the precautionary principle, whose work frequently entails the study of increasingly complex, poorly understood processes, while at the same time facing competing demands from those trying to reconcile economic development and the conservation of the environment. It is helpful to explore the methodologies of science in this challenging and disputed terrain and to consider ways in which study can be more or less helpful to those who will behave with caution without losing honesty and objectivity. We suggest that a move to more precautionary policies presents openings and obstacles for researchers to think differently about the ways in which experiments are conducted and findings are shared. The discoveries in research and the setting of policies have a complex feedback connection. Environmental scientists should be mindful of the political uses of their work and of their ethical duty for doing research that preserves human health and the environment, while retaining their objectivity and emphasis on studying the universe. This close, complicated relationship between research and policy is demonstrated by the precautionary principle.