In this paper, I present a novel contractualist analysis of risk-imposing activities. According to most ex ante contractualists, there is a principled distinction to be made between permissible risk-imposing activities such as medical treatments and impermissible risk-imposing activities such as medical experimentation.Footnote1 After demonstrating that previous attempts to make this distinction are implausible, I argue that the most promising version of ex ante contractualism generates similar verdicts with respect to the permissibility of both risky medical treatments and medical experimentation. With this in mind, if we think medical experimentation is never permissible, we may be moved to either judge risky medical treatments impermissible as well or to reject ex ante contractualism altogether …
Vishnu Sridharan, The Composition of Risk, Journal of Value Inquiry. Published: 19 April 2025.
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