An Ethical Perspective on Extreme
Situations and Nuclear Safety Preservation
Hortense Blazsin
Abstract Extreme situations lead to the collapse of systems together with all
existing rules, including symbolic ones. Therefore there are no longer any procedures to comply with, nor any outside guidance to help in making the complex
decisions imposed by such situations. The decision-maker has to look elsewhere to
find the resources to guide their actions, all the more since they are likely to be held
responsible when the situation returns to normal. We argue that ethics, based on
practical reason, offer a way out of the dead-end. Practical reason is anchored in
individual motivation, as opposed to external rules, and is ultimately guided by
solicitude towards other human beings. As it rises from the inner desires, feelings
and reasoning of a person it offers a guide for action, even when artefacts collapse.
Furthermore ethics could provide common ground on which to build an interdisciplinary approach to resilience in extreme situations, as ethical questions run
through all disciplines. Building on Paul Ricoeur’s practical philosophy, we
describe what an ethical approach to decision-making in extreme situations could
look like, as well as its implications for organizations. We show that such an
approach requires that organizations allow their members to use their practical
reason and act autonomously not only when accidents occur, but also in normal
situations. Such a transformation could lead to building “safe institutions”, i.e.
organizations within which people would preserve safety, rather than organizations
that manage safety through people.
Keywords Decision-making Á Ricoeur Á Ethics Á Practical reason Á Responsibility
H. Blazsin (&)
Centre for Research on Risks and Crises, MINES ParisTech/PSL Research University,
Sophia Antipolis, France
e-mail: hortense.blazsin@mines-paristech.fr
© The Author(s) 2017
J. Ahn et al. (eds.), Resilience: A New Paradigm of Nuclear Safety,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-58768-4_14
185
Situations and Nuclear Safety Preservation
Hortense Blazsin
Abstract Extreme situations lead to the collapse of systems together with all
existing rules, including symbolic ones. Therefore there are no longer any procedures to comply with, nor any outside guidance to help in making the complex
decisions imposed by such situations. The decision-maker has to look elsewhere to
find the resources to guide their actions, all the more since they are likely to be held
responsible when the situation returns to normal. We argue that ethics, based on
practical reason, offer a way out of the dead-end. Practical reason is anchored in
individual motivation, as opposed to external rules, and is ultimately guided by
solicitude towards other human beings. As it rises from the inner desires, feelings
and reasoning of a person it offers a guide for action, even when artefacts collapse.
Furthermore ethics could provide common ground on which to build an interdisciplinary approach to resilience in extreme situations, as ethical questions run
through all disciplines. Building on Paul Ricoeur’s practical philosophy, we
describe what an ethical approach to decision-making in extreme situations could
look like, as well as its implications for organizations. We show that such an
approach requires that organizations allow their members to use their practical
reason and act autonomously not only when accidents occur, but also in normal
situations. Such a transformation could lead to building “safe institutions”, i.e.
organizations within which people would preserve safety, rather than organizations
that manage safety through people.
Keywords Decision-making Á Ricoeur Á Ethics Á Practical reason Á Responsibility
H. Blazsin (&)
Centre for Research on Risks and Crises, MINES ParisTech/PSL Research University,
Sophia Antipolis, France
e-mail: hortense.blazsin@mines-paristech.fr
© The Author(s) 2017
J. Ahn et al. (eds.), Resilience: A New Paradigm of Nuclear Safety,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-58768-4_14
185