Reasonableness and Risk

Abstract 71 This article responds to four thoughtful critics of my book Reasonableness and Risk (OUP, 2022). In response to Felipe Jiménez’ argument that my view is instrumentalist, I explain why I think that instrumentalism and formalism play complementary roles in my view. Because persons, not law, have intrinsic value, the formal concepts of the law must be articulated in ways which further the interests of the persons whose relations they govern. My reply to Diego M Papayannis explains why I believe that strict liability does not collapse into a price system when it is understood as a conditional wrong, and why even administrative schemes do interpersonal justice. Agreeing with Jenny Steele, I elaborate on why my view is supportive of her thesis that enterprise liability informs modern negligence law. In response to Silvia Zorzetto, I explain how it is that my view moves from the metaphysics that she emphasizes to moral and political theory.