Uncertainty

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. In Uncertainty, Patrik Aspers provides detailed analysis of publicly available means of uncertainty reduction. Drawing on phenomenology, social constructionism, and the sociology of knowledge, Aspers considers the meaningful differences between uncertainty and risk, the different ways people cope and have coped with uncertainty through history, the importance of knowledge and science to reducing uncertainty, and the trade-offs involved in reducing forms of uncertainty while leaving open opportunities for others. People may have access to unique and private knowledge that reduces their uncertainty when making decisions. Publicly available knowledge is central for building a society that enables communication based on shared ideas and understanding, instead