Bouleau N. Risk and Meaning: Adversaries in Art, Science and Philosophy

Berlin: Springer, 2011. — 312 p.This richly illustrated book is an exploration of how chance and risk, on the one hand, and meaning or significance on the other, compete for the limelight in art, philosophy, and science. In modern society, prudence and probability calculation permeate our daily lives. Yet it is clear for all to see that neither cautious bank regulations nor mathematics has prevented economic crises from occurring time and again. Nicolas Bouleau argues that it is the meaning we assign to an event that determines the perceived risk and that we generally turn a blind eye to this important fact because the word "meaning" is itself awkward to explain. He tackles this fundamental question through examples taken from cultural fields ranging from painting, architecture, and music, to poetry, biology, and astronomy. This enables the reader to view overwhelming risks in a different light. Bouleau clarifies that the most important thing in a time of uncertainty is to think of prudence on a higher level, one that truly addresses the various subjective interpretations of the world.Entrance: Interpretation and Paradigms
Cicero and Divination
Cournot’s “Philosophical Probabilities”
Mathematical Probabilities
Democracy by Chance
Gestalt Structure Pattern
The Third Dimension of Risk
‘Modern’ Architecture
The Ideal City
Daring the Abstract in Art
Saussure or the Dread of Mathematical Probabilities
Jacques Monod’s Roulette
From Fortuitism to Animism
The Slip as Fortuity and Meaning
Guessing Astronomy
The Legitimacy of Science and Love