Lucie White

I'm interested in the ethics of crises, particularly the question of how drastic policy measures can be justified in a sudden crisis. An unexpected crisis demands urgent, rapid action. But rapid action necessitates acting under severe uncertainty, with a limited idea of the implications of policy measures. This combination of urgency and uncertainty makes the ethical justification of policy measures very difficult. Normal procedures for policy justification require extended deliberation, or weighing people’s reasons for and against different policy options, or determining costs and benefits. All these lengthy procedures are ruled out in a crisis. But this shouldn’t mean that anything goes – drastic, crisis-containing policy measures are in particularly pressing need of adequate justification. My research aims to confront these challenges by exploring how we can find procedures or principles of justification implementable under urgency and uncertainty, and how we can avoid damaging public trust.