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You are hereby invited to our seventeenth "Evolution, Complexity and
Cognition (ECCO)" seminar of 2005:
The Precautionary Principle
-
Towards Sustainable
Multidimensional Governance?
by
Place: room 3C204 (building C, 3rd floor), VUB campus
Oefenplein
Time: Friday, June 3, at 17:30 h.
Abstract:
The precautionary principle has emerged not only as one of the
most controversial principles of environmental law bu as one of the
most remarkable legal developments of the last decade. Its
introduction in the European Treaty brought a lot of discussion on its
interpretation and use as a decision-making tool. I will briefly
introduce the global context for its appearance, its meaning in the
light of the communication of the European Commission and the
jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice.
The precautionary principle is at the intersection of two
fundamental questions for the European Union's policy: sustainable
development and competitive innovation. The EU aims to introduce an
integrated model combining these apparently contradictory ambitions,
under pressure to find news ways of articulation. The question is
whether the precautionary principle allied with the latest
developments in information technology could incarnate the emergence
of that new articulation: a new type of regulatory process or
collective decision-making that would allow an integrated vision of
the EU, not only in risk management but as a guiding principle for
sustainable governance. If so, the principle's articulation could leas
us to interpret the regulatory rule not as an idealized rule of right
or wrong, but as the _expression_ of a reality here and now which is
open to discussion, change and evolution.
ECCO seminar programme coming weeks
10 Jun: Francis Heylighen: Foundations for an
anticipation-control theory of mind
17 Jun: Bertin Martens (?): the cognitive mechanics of
economic and institutional development
24 Jun: Tom Erez: Postext: a cognitively-apt formalism for
knowledge management
ECCO seminars normally take place each Friday at 17h30 in room
3C204 of the VUB Campus Etterbeek. Everyone interested is welcome. The
seminars are very interactive, with small groups (about 8-10 people).
The intention is to discuss in depth the research being proposed, and
to look for interdisciplinary connections with other ECCO-related
themes. Seminars last about two hours, after which the remaining
participants go to take a drink or a snack in the Opinio Caf� on the
campus, to continue the discussion in a more relaxed setting.
--
Francis Heylighen
"Evolution, Complexity and Cognition" research group
Free University of Brussels
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
