A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology

General Background

Few issues in contemporary technology policy are as momentous (or contentious) as the precautionary principle.¹ The topic features prominently in mainstream political discourse² as well as in academic literatures on risk,³ environmental science,⁴ economics,⁵ social science⁶ and international law.⁷ Originating in the earliest international initiatives for environmental protection in the 1970s,⁸ it first came to legal maturity in German environmental policy in the 1980s.⁹ Since then it has been championed by environmentalists¹⁰ and strongly resisted by some of the industries they oppose.¹¹ Diverse formulations proliferate across a variety of international instruments,¹² national jurisdictions¹³ and policy areas.¹⁴ From a guiding theme in EC environmental policy,¹⁵ it has become a general principle of EC law¹⁶ and a repeated focus of attention in high-stakes international disputes.¹⁷ Applying especially in areas like food safety,¹⁸ chemicals regulation,¹⁹ genetic modification,²⁰ telecommunications,²¹ nanotechnology,²² climate change²³ and general health protection,²⁴ it remains particularly controversial in the US.²⁵ Elsewhere, however, its influence has extended from environmental regulation,²⁶ to wider policy-making on issues of risk,²⁷ science,²⁸ innovation²⁹ and world trade.³⁰ As it has expanded in scope,³¹ so it has grown in profile and authority³² and in its general implications for the governance of technology.³³

An early classic formulation (which has been ...