Papers by Jessica Nihlén Fahlquist
Moral Responsibility and Risk in Society
Moral Responsibility and Risk in Society, 2018
Risk communication and moral emotions
Design for responsibility
Design for the Value of Responsibility
Springer eBooks, 2015
Risk and Responsibility
Springer eBooks, Nov 2, 2012
When a risk materializes, it is common to ask the question: who is responsible for the risk being... more When a risk materializes, it is common to ask the question: who is responsible for the risk being taken? Despite this intimate connection between risk and responsibility, remarkably little has been written on the exact relation between the notions of risk and responsibility. This contribution sets out to explore the relation between risk and responsibility on basis of the somewhat dispersed literature on the topic and it sketches directions for future research. It deals with three more specific topics. First we explore the conceptual connections between risk and responsibility by discussing different conceptions of risk and responsibility and their relationships. Second, we discuss responsibility for risk, paying attention to four more specific activities with respect to risks: risk reduction, risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication. Finally, we explore the problem of many hands (PMH), that is, the problem of attributing responsibility when large numbers of people are involved in an activity. We argue that the PMH has especially become prominent today due to the increased collective nature of actions and due to the fact that our actions often do not involve direct harm but rather risks, that is, the possibility of harm. We illustrate the PMH for climate change and discuss three possible ways of dealing with it: (1) responsibility-as-virtue, (2) a procedure for distributing responsibility, and (3) institutional design.
Risk
Springer eBooks, 2015
Science and Engineering Ethics, Jul 11, 2010
In this paper, the so-called V-chip is analysed from the perspective of responsibility. The V-chi... more In this paper, the so-called V-chip is analysed from the perspective of responsibility. The V-chip is a technological tool used by parents, on a voluntary basis, to prevent children from watching violent television content. Since 1997 in the United States, the V-chip is installed in all new televisions sets of 12 00 and larger. We are interested in the question whether and how the introduction of the V-chip affects who is to be considered responsible for children. In the debate, it has been argued that the V-chip reduces parents' responsibility for children, but it has also been argued that it gives parents a tool to exercise their responsibility. It may appear as though all debaters are discussing the same thing and merely have different opinions. However, we argue that there are at least three notions of responsibility underlying these claims and that these should be kept separate. First, arguments on responsibility may refer to responsibility as task distribution. Second, they can refer to responsibility as control. Finally, a thicker concept of parental responsibility understood as a virtue may be referred to. It becomes clear that whereas task distribution changes to some extent and the possibilities for control are increased, only certain parts of parental responsibility as a virtue are affected. The finding that there appear to be different notions of responsibility involved in a debate that prima facie is about one issue, indicates that discussions on other technologies and how they affect responsibility may suffer from the same conceptual lack of clarity.
Nuclear energy, responsible risk communication and moral emotions: a three level framework
Journal of Risk Research, Sep 11, 2014
Ethical Problems with Information on Infant Feeding in Developed Countries
Public Health Ethics, Jul 1, 2011
Most sources providing information on infant feeding strongly recommend breastfeeding. The WHO an... more Most sources providing information on infant feeding strongly recommend breastfeeding. The WHO and UNICEF recommend that women breastfeed their babies and that health professionals promote breastfeeding. This creates severe pressure on women to breastfeed, a pressure ...
Results and conclusion The author concludes with some
Aim This article aims at giving an overview of five ethical problem areas relating to traffic saf... more Aim This article aims at giving an overview of five ethical problem areas relating to traffic safety, thereby providing a general framework for analysing traffic safety from an ethical perspective and encouraging further discussion concerning problems, policies and technology in this area. Subjects and methods The problems presented in the article are criminalisation, paternalism, privacy, justice and responsibility, and the reasons for choosing these are the following. First, they are all important areas in moral philosophy. Second, they are fairly general and it should be possible to categorise more specific problems under these headings. Ethical aspects of road traffic have not received the philosophical attention they deserve. Every year, more than 1 million people die globally in traffic accidents, and 20 to 50 million people are injured. Ninety per cent of the road traffic fatalities occur in low- and middle-income countries, where it is a growing problem. Politics, economics,...
Ethical challenges for traffic safety policy
Public Health Ethics
The COVID-19 pandemic during 2020–2022 raised ethical questions concerning the balance between in... more The COVID-19 pandemic during 2020–2022 raised ethical questions concerning the balance between individual autonomy and the protection of the population, vulnerable individuals and the healthcare system. Pediatric COVID-19 vaccination differs from, for example, measles vaccination in that children were not as severely affected. The main question concerning pediatric vaccination has been whether the autonomy of parents outweighs the protection of the population. When children are seen as mature enough to be granted autonomy, questions arise about whether they have the right to decline vaccination and who should make the decision when parents disagree with each other and/or the child. In this paper, I argue that children should be encouraged to not only take responsibility for themselves, but for others. The discussion of pediatric vaccination in cases where this kind of risk–benefit ratio exists extends beyond the 2020–2022 pandemic. The pandemic entailed a question that is crucial fo...
The Ethics of Traffic Safety
su.diva-portal.org
... se:kth:diva-8115. Subject category: Philosophy. SVEP category: Philosophy subjects. Note: QS ... more ... se:kth:diva-8115. Subject category: Philosophy. SVEP category: Philosophy subjects. Note: QS 20120328. In thesis: Nihlén Fahlquist, Jessica. Moral responsibility and the ethics of traffic safety. 2008. Available from: 2008-03-18. ...
Individual Virtues and Structures of Virtue in Public Health
Public Health Ethics, 2022
Public health ethics is commonly analyzed within a consequentialist or rights-based perspective, ... more Public health ethics is commonly analyzed within a consequentialist or rights-based perspective, but recent approaches explore public health from a virtue ethical perspective. Rozier focuses on the virtues of individual members of the public and I discuss public health professionals. MacKay emphasizes the role of the collective level, the practice and social structure of public health. The structure can be important in two ways. First, it potentially affects the cultivation of the virtues of individuals. Second, the structure itself could have virtues. MacKay defends the latter notion and argues that structures become objective reality that is non-reducible to individuals. She implicitly describes public health as an actor, as having hopes and aspirations. MacKay’s account is an interesting contribution to the field. I agree with that the social structure is important but argue that it is primarily important in relation to the cultivation of individual virtues. Public health is not ...
Risk communication and moral emotions
Public Health and the Virtues of Responsibility, Compassion and Humility
Public Health Ethics, 2019
In contrast to medical care, which is focused on the individual patient, public health is focused... more In contrast to medical care, which is focused on the individual patient, public health is focused on collective health. This article argues that, in order to better protect the individual, discussions of public health would benefit from incorporating the insights of virtue ethics. There are three reasons to for this. First, the collective focus may cause neglect of the effects of public health policy on the interests and rights of individuals and minorities. Second, whereas the one-on-one encounters in medical care facilitate a compassionate and caring attitude, public health involves a distance between professionals and the public. Therefore, public health professionals must use imagination and care to evaluate the effects of policies on individuals. Third, the relationship between public health professionals and the people who are affected by the policies they design is characterized by power asymmetry, demanding a high level of responsibility from those who wield them. Against th...
Responsible risk communication
Moral Responsibility and Risk in Society, 2018
Fairness and efficacy in responsibility distributions 1
Moral Responsibility and Risk in Society, 2018
Institutional responsibility
Preferences regarding antibiotic treatment and the role of antibiotic resistance: A discrete choice experiment
International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, 2020
OBJECTIVES To identify preferences of the Swedish public regarding antibiotic treatment character... more OBJECTIVES To identify preferences of the Swedish public regarding antibiotic treatment characteristics and the relative weight of antibiotic resistance in their treatment choices. METHODS A questionnaire including a discrete choice experiment questionnaire was answered by 378 Swedish participants. Preferences of the general public regarding five treatment characteristics (i.e., attributes) were measured: Contribution to antibiotic resistance, Cost, Side effects, Failure rate, and Treatment duration. Latent class analysis models were used to determine attribute-level estimates and the heterogeneity in preferences. Relative importance of the attributes and willingness to pay for antibiotics with a lower contribution to antibiotic resistance were calculated from the estimates. RESULTS All attributes influenced participants' preferences for antibiotic treatment. For the majority of participants 'Contribution to antibiotic resistance' was the most important attribute. Younger respondents found contributing to antibiotic resistance relatively more important in their choice of antibiotic treatments. Choices of respondents with lower numeracy, higher health literacy and financial vulnerability were influenced more by the cost of the antibiotic treatment. Older respondents with lower financial vulnerability and health literacy, and higher numeracy found side effects to be most important. CONCLUSIONS All attributes can be considered as potential drivers of lay people's use of antibiotics. Findings also suggest that the behaviour of lay people may be influenced by concerns over the rise of antibiotic resistance. Therefore, stressing individual responsibility for AR in clinical and societal communication has a potential to have an impact on personal decision making.
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Papers by Jessica Nihlén Fahlquist