Resources

These are the reading lists of past readings groups organised by HKCRC fellows.

Reading Group 1 (Fall 2021): Risk Imposition

1. Surveys on Ethics of Risk Imposition

• Madeleine Hayenhjelm and Jonathan Wolff (2011). The Moral Problem of Risk Impositions. European Journal of Philosophy, 20: e26-e51.
• Sven Ove Hansson (2003). Ethical Criteria for Risk Acceptance, Erkenntnis, 59: 291–309

2. Is Risk a Harm?

• Finkelstein, C. (2003). Is Risk a Harm? University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 151(3), 96. 
• Oberdiek, J. (2012). The Moral Significance of Risking. Legal Theory, 18(3), 339–356. 
• Husak, D. N. (1994). Is Drunk Driving a Serious Offense? Philosophy & Public Affairs, 23(1), 52–73. 

3. Consequentialism and Risk Imposition

• Sven Ove Hansson (2004). Weighing Risks and Benefits. Topoi, 23: 145-152.
• Sven Ove Hansson (2007). Philosophical Problems in Cost-Benefit Analysis’, Economics and Philosophy, 23: 163–183

4. Contractualism and Risk Imposition 

• Lenman, J. (2008). Contractualism and Risk Impositions, Politics. Philosophy Economics, 7: 99-122.
• Frick, J. (2015). Contractualism and Social Risk, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 43(3): 175-223.
• Rahul, K. (2015). Risking and Wronging, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 43(1): 27-51. 

5. Deontology and Risk 

• Seth Lazar. (2018). Limited Aggregation and Risk. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 46(2): 117-159. 
• Seth Lazar. (2017). Deontological Decision Theory and Agent-Centered Options. 127: 579-609. 
• Seth Lazar & Peter A. Graham (2019), Deontological Decision Theory and Lesser-evil Options, Synthese, 198, 6889-6916. 

6. Right-based Theory and Risk Imposition 

• McCarthy, D. (1997). Rights, Explanation, and Risks. Ethics, 107(2): 205-225.
• Thomson, J. J. (1986). “Imposing Risks” in Rights, Restitution, and Risk: Essays in Moral Theory. (W. Parent, Ed.). Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
• Sun Holm. (2016). A Right against Risk-Imposition and the Problem of Paralysis. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 19(4): 917-930. (Optional) 

7. Compensation to Risk Imposition 

• McCarthy, D. (1996). Liability and Risk. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 25, 238-262.
• Handfield, T. & Pisciotta T. (2005). Is the Risk-liability Theory Compatible with Negligence Law, 11(4): 387-404. 
• Porat, A., Stein, A. (2001). Tort Liability Under Uncertainty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

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Reading Group 2 (Spring 2022): Definitions of Catastrophic and Existential Risks

1. Definition of Catastrophic Risk 

• H. Orri Stefansson (2020), Catastrophic Risk, Philosophy Compass, 15(11), 1-11. 
• Posner, R. A. (2004). “What are the Catastrophic risks and how catastrophic are they”, in  Catastrophe: Risk and response. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2. Quantitive Catastrophic Risk

• Peterson, M. (2002). What is a de Minimis risk? Risk Management, 4(2), 47–55.
• Lundgren, B., & Stefánsson, H. O. (2020). Against de minimis. Risk Analysis, 40(5), 908–914.

3. Methodology and Assessment of Catastrophic Risks 

• Toby Ord, Rafaela Hillerbrand & Anders Sandberg (2010) Probing the improbable: methodological challenges for risks with low probabilities and high stakes, Journal of Risk Research, 13:2, 191-205. 
• Milan M. Cirkovic (2012). Small Theories and Large Risks–Is Risk Analysis Relevant for Epistemology. Risk Analysis, 32(11):1994-2004.

4. Risk Factors 

• Ord, T. (2020). The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity. ch. 6, “The Risk Landscape.”
• Cotton-Barratt, O., M. Daniel, and A. Sandberg. (2020). “Defence in Depth Against Human Extinction: Prevention, Response, Resilience, and Why They All Matter.” Global Policy 11: 271-282.

5. Extinction Risk and Population Ethics 

• Frick, J. (2017). “On the Survival of Humanity.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 47: 344-367.
• Kaczmarek, P. and S. Beard. (2020). “Human Extinction and Our Obligations to the Past.” Utilitas 32: 199-208.

6. Existential Risk and AI 

• Vold, K. and D. R. Harris. (Forthcoming). “How Does Artificial Intelligence Pose an Existential Risk?” In C. Veliz (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics.
• Bostrom, N. (2014). Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. ch. 8, “Is the Default Outcome Doom?”